It was love at first listen for me when Manchester duo The Sewer Cats dropped their re-examination of the classic murder ballad ‘Delia’ almost 2 ½ years ago now. As calling cards go, it was and remains a particularly potent ‘hello, pleased to meet you’ and a perfect proper introduction to the little-but-loud pairing of Cass (voice/drums) and Josh (guitar) after their Covid-era EP Zelda, and an earlier 2019 CD EP of demos had served early notice of their musical intent.
‘Delia’ was followed almost immediately by the Cats’ first album Cute Aggression. It’s twelve mostly short, always sharp bursts of aural aggression were born out of lockdown and jumped out of the vinyl and CD like a dozen caged beasts that had been let loose on an unsuspecting public after a long period of enforced custody.
I hate to use cliched expressions like ‘it blew me away’ – but it did, and it’s still blowing me away on a regular basis.
Almost 30 months and literally dozens of gigs later – most of them, sadly for us southern-based Cat people, north of the M1/M6 split – Cass and Josh bring you a second album that can truly be described as “Obnoxious”, as that’s what it’s called. You can take it from me that there is nothing even remotely obnoxious about its content, other than the title track obviously. It follows the template of its predecessor by presenting one short of a dozen more invigorating aural onslaughts, most of which also clock in at around the 2-minute mark or thereabouts and all of which capture the live sound of this affable twosome in its formidable pomp.
Its release has inevitably been preceded by that of a few ‘preview’ singles. If you have heard ‘Get It’ – one of my favourite singles of the year to date – and ‘Boo Hoo’, or the more recent poptastic ‘Tell Me Something True’ or, indeed, Cass’s recent collaboration with fellow Mancs slab on ‘Defibrillator’, a bonus track on the vinyl version – you will have a very good idea of what to expect from the rest of the album i.e. big thick doorstops of relentless guitar shredding from Josh that power and are in turn powered by Cass’ massive percussive thrash and unashamedly unsubtle (and at times bordering on feral) vocals.
The frantic pace of Obnoxious barely gives you time to catch your breath; apart from the album’s official closer ‘Our Band Could Be Your Life’ and the decidedly mellow, and surprisingly reflective, ‘You Cannot Be Serious’ there is nothing here that vaguely resembles a ballad. Even when you think the Cats are cutting the pace to give themselves and you breathing space, as they start out doing on the title track, they gradually wind it up to a high octane 100mph groove.
This is proper punk rock with no fancy-schmancy audio trickery, and it’s all the better for being so. It’s not likely to feature as background music at your next social gathering, but that’s very much a commendation rather than a criticism. (Having said that, the buoyant disco groove of ‘Parasites’ could nice up any dance party without trying too hard…)
Criticism is something that an avowed fan such as this one struggles to offer for Obnoxious. If I do have a small one, it’s that the always interesting lyrics to their songs are, at times here, occasionally buried in what is a pleasingly loud mix. But generally, it’s a thrilling and at times scary work that these two lovely people – who could hardly be more delightful offstage and in person – can justifiably be proud of, and a great big slab of unvarnished musical excitement that ought to keep all of us confirmed Cat people happy and content until the duo are ready to share more new music with us.
Cass and Josh are just about to embark on an extensive tour in support of the album, which starts in Hastings towards the end of this month and continues well into October, including a long overdue and surely unmissable first London gig in a couple of years at Signature Brew’s Haggerston venue in mid-October. Full details of the tour, and all other Cats -related stuff can be found on their socials.
Obnoxious is available on CD and vinyl on TNS Records from 20 September 2024.
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