Axes have always been good on record, but until now it’s only been in a live setting that they’ve really stepped beyond their status as just ‘another math-rock band’. With their second studio album Glory however Axes have managed to capture all that incredible energy and talent that makes them so excellent live and cram it into a torrent of riffs, genre exploration and a massive sound that comes alive on record in a way they’ve never quite managed in the past.

It’s very easy to tar all bands remotely linked to math-rock with the same brush but in this instance that couldn’t be more of a mistake. Yes, Glory is in its essence a punk infused math-rock album but to quantify it as such barely scratches the surface of what is an album tinged with hints of so much more. Axes formation comes from the unlikely smashing together of a ridiculous span of backgrounds and influences in everything from thrash metal to hip-hop and r&b. Like a year seven chemistry class in which the teacher has turned their back; everything has been thrown recklessly into the mixer and in flash of a smoke Axes emerge. This is probably something that should never be but it’s a hell of a lot more fun to break the rules.

Real Talk is the clearest example of the way Axes make music. It leaps around sporadically between delicate mathy twinkling to chunky metal riffing to squeaky clean, funky beats that wouldn’t be out of place on a hip-hop album. It is this chaotic switching and unpredictable direction underpinning Glory that makes it such a satisfyingly outrageous album. There are also moments of sanity hidden away in the chaos. Most prolifically title track Glory remains in one style almost all the way through and working as the crowning glory (shit pun half intended) of the album flows smoothly from mammoth rifftacular belter into tender, delicate interludes which break up the full throttle tone of the album.

This is by no means a masterpiece of instrumental rock, in fact at times it barely feels like these are songs at all rather a collection of ideas crammed together haphazardly and wildly but somehow it works. Instrumental rock is often too focused on being perfectly crafted, the lack of lyrics brings so much focus to the music that the pressure to create something spectacular is often so great that the end result can be a little dull. Axes have cast this vice aside and brought the fun back to a genre that is so free and unlimited that it can allow for an outing that needs nothing more than big riffs, ridiculous time signatures and wild ideas.

Crack Staff