SEVERED HEADS Vinilo y CD

Review: The Medical label has a long obsession with Severed Heads that now continues with a very welcome reissue of their 1989 debut album Rotund For Success. They serve up an expanded deluxe edition across two slabs of wax that include alternative versions and remixes. The record is packed with stylish synth hits like 'Big Car', 'All Saints Day' and 'Greater Reward'. Each one is packed with timeless coldwave sounds, proudly tinny 80s production, laden with catchy hooks and angular rhythms that make you jerk your body. All the music has been remastered for his pressing by Mr Ellard so it sounds as good as it ever has.

Review: Australia's Severed Heads are well-remembered for their 1980s output, but their millennial efforts are less well documented. An era in the band's life when they were working on video games, publishing magazines and producing albums, this special collector's item is rightly positioned as a 'museum' rather than record, holding several years of music from that era, most of which is unlikely to have been heard before.

It's a wild ride from start to finish, and one that takes in Romantic electro, wavey ambient and slo-mo dancefloor psychedelia. One foot stomping down in disco, another in surrealist synth poetry. A complex and rich record that seems to give more the more you listen, to say the audio content is as vividly striking and alluring as the cover would be an understatement.

Review: Dark Entires continue to lead the current cold wave and synth scenes from the front, this time by reissuing genre giants Severed Heads's debut album Clean from 1981. This version comes with liner notes by band member Tom Ellard plus photos and press clippings from the period that make it even more essential. Musically, of course, it is a unique mix of synth-heavy post-punk mixed with industrial rhythms and violins that groan and moan. The textures are rough and confrontational and the album has often been referred to as 'ugly' for that reason. 25% of all proceeds for the Clean reissue will go towards the Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities in Australia.

Review: Well, we've been awaiting for this to come out since we opened our doors, back in the late 90s. That's right - the Holy Grail of coldwave has finally reached our shelves after much anticipation. Severed Heads, the Aussie post-punk outfit with a penchant for the bizarre and the technoid, recorded Brave New Waves Session back in 1986, while on tour with Skinny Puppy. As you'd expect, there is very much a 'on-the-influence' sort of vibe, with 4/4 dance trax beats making their way into more poetic chants recalling the neo-romanticism that has swept over the punk scene back then. However, it doesn't end there, and the 90s were creeping around the bend, there are audible early traces of rave culture seeding their way into all of these wild and hot-headed arrangements. Cop it - it's pure fire from these legends!

Review: Australia's Severed Heads are simply monumental in every way, shape and form. The post-industrial proto techno band have been a constant source of inspiration to artists old and new, electronic and non-electronic. That's because their sound is just so varied even within one release, and this fabulous reissue of mid-'80s material, Stretcher, takes its name and cover from one of their 1985 EPs, but is actually a comprehensive compilation of some of their best work. As you probably know, metallic drum machines, chills of cold waves, and a little bit of punk-thrasher attitude is what always runs through their music, but instead of having to look for that one killer tune, you get them all nice and laid out right here, with the likes of "Petrol", "Heat Seeking Susan", or even "Dead Eyes Opened" all residing on one release. If you're into that dark, beat-driven post-punk then look nowhere else.

Review: Originally out on Ink Records way back in 1985, Severed Heads' Clifford Darling, Please Don't Live In The Past is a personal favourite of ours from the iconic Australian act. The band were and always have been one of the few post-punk outfits to truly push the boundaries and diverge onto what some may now call proto-techno. Inside this particular LP, you get a sublime example of their signature percussion style, a fast-paced rattle of steely drums and hi-hats surrounded by odd bundles of lo-fi and distorted synth grit. With the amount of amazing tunes at the core of this beast, it would do the album no justice to just describe the all to you in mere words, but what you need to know is that the music here is totally timeless, a glorious journey down the greyer ends of the 80's dance movement, and a magnificent introspective into what is surely Australia's most interesting band of all time. Essential gear.

Review: Since The Accident is the first of two Medical Records reissues of albums from Severed Heads, the Sydney-based DIY electronics pioneers spearheaded by Tom Ellard for three decades. Originally released on UK label Ink Records back in 1983, Since The Accident was the group's fifth album proper and contains perhaps their most recognised track in "Dead Eyes Opened" (which was just reissued in 12" format by Dark Entries) but this edition presents a nice introduction to the way ahead of it's time Severed Heads sound for interested newcomers. Wedged at a similar intersection of early industrial and wave as Throbbing Gristle, Coil and Cabaret Voltaire, the ten track set is made all the more compelling by the inclusion of an inset featuring typically acerbic musings from Tim Ellard.

Review: When it comes to industrial, post-punk sounds, Severed Heads have done it better than almost anyone else. In our humble opinion, only the likes of Throbbing Gristle can match the fury with which these guys recorded songs. Formed in 1979, the band is now certainly branded with a legendary status, but it was actually their output in the 1980s which really stood them apart. The lovely folks over at Medical have reissued 1985's classic City Slab Horror! Words cannot truly describe the innovation with which these guys worked, with some of their tracks potentially being labelled as 'proto-techno'. The whole LP is absolutely killer, filled with deranged vocal samples, dusty breaks, shuffling beats, piercing percussion and a frenzy of distorted basslines. Highly recommended whether you're familiar with their work or not.