Unqualified Nurse Band are back with a bang, Trashland is a riotous tirade of seething guitars and heavy bass.
After last years Debasement Tapes took everyone by surprise, Unqualified Nurse Band are back with Trashland. An album that is somewhat longer yet possesses significantly less tracks, Trashland feels more structured in its direction, yet still has the raw ferocity of their debut.
Opener Transplosion would not have you believe this, fuelled by swaggering sixties rock n roll it builds throughout, before exploding into a furore of garage rock goodness. Shrouded in feedback and drenched in reverb this trio are once again off to a flying start. The ability and somewhat disregard for genres quickly becomes a theme of Trashland, with no two tracks ever retaining the same or in some cases even similar sound.
Nurse Life is a short sharp blast of dark rock, thick bass and haunting vocals. There’s a real angst to the track something which returns again later in the record in What A Way To Spend A Holiday. Their power ever more evident, the riffs increasingly growing, the fervency of the record continues to heighten all of which builds to a rousing crescendo.
However, it is the last track though that is the crowning glory of Trashland, the rather epic If You Can’t Face The Facts You Don’t Stand A Fucking Chance. Opening in a particularly blissed out and almost psychedelic manner, as the synths bend the melody. The track doesn’t retain this relative sobriety for long though, quickly morphing into a passionate angst filled track.
The thick hum of the bass running through the underlying track before changing into an almost John Carpenteresque rhythm. Yet it closes out in all out riff warfare after a glancing blow of eighties sci-fi synths. It is a full on onslaught of the highest order, Unqualified Nurse Band continue to deliver on all levels, Trashland is a mind bending genre defying masterpiece without a doubt. We cannot wait to hear what this exceptional trio have up their sleeves next.
LOUD & QUIET - 8/10
Barely a year has passed since Derby’s Unqualified Nurse Band debuted with a clash of genres, eras, heads, bodies and fluids on ‘Debasement Tapes’. In a blink of an eye, here’s LP number two. ‘Transplosion’ opens up the album with an insight into what it would have been like if Phil Spector had produced The Clash. ‘Trashland ’85’ is if The Who had actually been an ’80s new wave band with Johnny Marr on guitar, whilst also channelling The Specials. ‘Nurse Life’ then comes on all Franz Ferdinand before becoming a doom rock behemoth and also a bit psychedelic.
To say UNB are schizophrenic, though, would be to pay them a huge disservice. You get the feeling that it isn’t that they don’t know who they are, but that this is well thought out. As eclectic as they were before, they’re now a little more accessible, which is no bad thing. ‘Trashland’ is energetic, rampant, exciting rock’n’roll, as UNB spend their second time around fusing ’60s girl groups, late ’70s punk, ’80s new wave and ’90s grunge into a multi-headed fantastic beast.
STORGE
One year ago Unqualified Nurse Band burst onto the music scene with their debut LP Debasement Tapes. The three-piece had already gained notoriety for providing loud and furious live performances and their first full length release backed them up on this.
In the 12 months since the band have been working harder than almost any band I have ever seen. With a constant stream of new songs, some of which make this record, being aired at the many, many live shows they have been playing they also crammed in a double-A release for Too Pure Singles Club and rode high at number 74 in the Official Singles Chart.
From the very first song on new album Trashland you get a sense that this album is a lot cleaner and more palatable, while still keeping the bands signature trashy rock n roll sensibility.
Unqualified Nurse Band have clearly approached this album not wanting to just recreate their first album over again, but want to show that behind all the fuzz and raucous energy the band can actually write fantastic songs. All the elements of the band are still here. The surf-ridden rock n roll guitars and a doff of the cap to the ’70’s psychedelic scene, but everything just seems a lot more together and well presented. The lyrics are a lot clearer this time around which shows off how dark this band can actually get and how well written and clever their songs actually are.
If you love Unquallifed Nurse Band already then this album still has everything you fell in love with and more. If you never quite got what the band were trying to do then I urge you to give this album a listen and see if they can win you over.
As mentioned earlier Unqualified Nurse Band are a hard working band, this hard work is clearly paying off for them. Here is a band to watch out for in the near future as I can see there being no stopping this steam roller.
credits
released October 20, 2017
Recorded by Rich Collins at SNUG Recording Co, Derby in June 2017.
Mastered by Joe Caithness at Subsequent Mastering, Nottingham
Fast and garage-y fem fronted Alternative Rock. An amazing album that bring to mind bands like Sleater-Kinney and the Screaming Females. All out hard rockin' and catchy as heck. Gwynncore
