“Knuckle Duster”

Review by Larry Paterson

Artist: ASOMVEL
Album: Knuckle Duster
Label: Bad Omen Records
Release Date: 7 October 2013

Tracklist:

1. Dead Set On Livin’
2. Cash Whore
3. Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing
4. Trash Talker
5. Waster
6. Shoot Ya Down
7. Wrecking Ball
8. Knuckle Duster
9. Final Hour
10. Stranglehold
11. Hangman’s Rope

ASOMVEL. What does it mean? Whatever you want it to. Named years ago by a highly inebriated bass playing lead vocalist – the late Jay Jay Winter – ASOMVEL are indeed, as they say, ‘a dream to some…a nightmare to others’. A three piece heavy metal band from Yorkshire, they have been blitzing there way forward since 1993 when the aforementioned Jay Jay Winter and guitarist Lenny Robinson teamed up with ex-Acid Reign drummer Mark Wharton. Since then the band have had a long list of drummers come and go but the Winter-Robinson duo remained intact and admirably durable as they released the 10” ‘Full Moon Dog’ in 2007 and their debut full-length album ‘Kamikaze’ in 2009. However, on 18 October 2010 the unthinkable happened and Jay Jay was killed in a road accident. For many bands that would mean the end of everything; either splitting up or lapsing into a perhaps understandable – but destructive – backwards looking attitude that would also spell the end of the band as an ongoing unit. However, I am pleased to report, that is clearly not the fate of ASOMVEL.
Due for release in October 2013 ‘Knuckle Duster’ sees them still destroying speakers the way they started twenty years ago. The first thing that is apparent with ASOMVEL is that they are indeed familiar with the mighty Motörhead, something in the past that may have seen some people accuse them of being mere clones. Do they sound like them? Yes…and no. There is no doubt that they wear their affection for the ultimate heavy metal/rock and roll trio on their sleeves but what has always saved ASOMVEL from being a copy is that the similarity is based on pure honesty. Lenny Robinson is clearly influenced by the same rock and roll that pushed Lemmy and Fast Eddie to make some of the (in my opinion) greatest music of the 70s (yes…I speak as a HUGE Motörhead fan), so rather than copying Motörhead they share the same inspiration both musically and lyrically. Throw in Jay Jay’s Venom fixation and a desire to be a non-contrived, head-cracking metal band and you had the template ASOMVEL sound.
So that’s enough of the band’s history…how does the album sound? Well, I love it! In a way it’s exactly what I was expecting, but somehow bigger and better. The addition of Jason Hope on drums has kicked the music squarely in the ass and he does a great job of hammering his kit with just the right amount of finesse and balls. New vocalist/bassist Conan’s delivery and playing is eerily similar to Jay Jay, which actually works perfectly for ASOMVEL. It must be a difficult line to walk: paying homage to his predecessor, keeping the ASOMVEL vibe, while also stamping your own mark on a band. Thankfully, he walked the line perfectly.
The album is solid from beginning to end and if your taste in metal is for heads-down, headbanging and bruising, non-pretentious, no-bullshit tunage delivered as if the band were playing in your living room, then this is one for you. There are highlights aplenty: opener ‘Dead Set On Livin’’ has that annoying ability to stick in your head all day; ‘Trash Talker’ oozes the kind of attitude that will make it a perfect live song; ‘Hangman’s Rope’ swaggers its way to the album’s end. ‘Waster’ may well be my standout favourite, a slow bluesy cruise that smells of Special Brew and bourbon.
ASOMVEL have provided the antidote for the disease many bands seem to suffer from: an obsession for click tracks and autotune to polish everything until it is as bland as a slab of marble. Instead you have a tight band playing a style they clearly love and have also clearly mastered. ASOMVEL are what they are, and they fly in the face of whatever trend happens to be floating through the UK metal scene. I have a feeling they will always be a band people either love or hate, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, at least that means they’ve stood up for something. Long may they continue to do so.

Album Rating 9/10