ISSUE #4

The tactile and heartfelt debut
album ‘Psycho’ by Judas Johnson
doesn’t simply reward repeated
listens, it demands them.
Over the course of their musical
backgrounds, Judas Johnson perfected a
painterly approach to sound construction.
What makes this alt-dark rock trio
exceptional is their ability to wrest
seemingly endless possibilities by netuning
the grain of every sound. On their
debut album, Judas Johnson take the
tactile dimension of their music even
further while also introducing groove and
drama. With Dark Silent Off bristles and a
passion that you hear on their back EP
catalog. It supplies you with a constant
ow of sensory
input, they
connect with
your heart and
soul to
mesmerising
effect.
The Album
begins with
‘Psycho’ the
guitar textures
building into a
half-organic,
half-synthetic
hybrid: electric
guitar chords
strained
through an
amplier and drum sticks establishing a
pattern on snare. As usual for them, the
overall tone feels dark, if not cold, then at
least impersonal, an exercise in modernist
architecture that privileges audacity of
form over comfort. When guitarist
frontman Mark Johnson plays, it feels
like you can reach out and touch the grill
covering on his amplier. You can hear
air moving behind Boon’s and Evan’s bass
and drums. If the music of Judas Johnson
had been painted on a canvas, you'd notice
the detail in the brush strokes from
twenty feet away.
This album hardly lets up and you
struggle to get your breath as it races
through ‘Coming Alive’, ‘The Road’ and
‘Silence’ all dark and twisting with much
feel and plentiful ambience.
Out of nowhere, the music starts to pant,
sweat, and move. The sudden rush of
humanity is startling. The album goes
into the awesome ‘Satellite’ 7 minutes
long with a trippy outro played on keys
by bassist Chris Boon, and by that point
Judas Johnson have covered more
ground in one piece than all their
predecessors. In the same vein, a piece
like “Ghost of you” which unfolds like a
suite, almost a mini-album unto itself, as
its traverses a shifting landscape of
sounds. Sufce it to say the album doesn’t
simply reward repeated listens, it
demands them.
My personal
favourite ‘In my
hands’ depicts
everything that
is good and bad
with the world
and literally
blows your mind.
With ‘Waves of
light’, ‘Promised
land’, ‘Nothing
ever changes’
and ‘Dead bodies
and broken
glass’ added to
the big dark
whirlpool mix
it’s hard to climb
out once you’ve
been sucked in, so my advice is to hold on
and enjoy the ride.
Judas Johnson brand of alt-dark rock has
always gone down smoothly in pubs,
clubs and festivals across the UK, and
they've outdone themselves on every level
here. More limber and ery than ever, the
band has risen out the experimental culde-sac
past with a riveting work that
should appeal to both its expected
audience and to new fans who they pick
up along the way. All in all a truly mind
bending experience and a credit to
Shropshire.
A MUST LISTEN & SEE !!! SHROPROCKS.COM | P35