QUATERMASS III
QUATERMASS III PENNY FARTHING
Glam-prog veterans return with next episode of pre-modern electro-rock.
Featuring ex-members of unjustly obscure 90s outfits World Of Twist and Earl Brutus, Quatermass III continue the wonky trajectory of those bands with a debut album that sounds like it was produced in a sodium-lit alternate dimension sometime between 1973 and the 25th century. There’s an element of retro futurism to what they do, with Quatermass III channelling the murky terror and burlesque of black-and-white TV sci-fi. Starting with the four-minute warning siren, Quaterverse is like ABBA’s Waterloo crossed with a missing track from Robert Calvert’s Captain Lockheed album, a throbbing glam progger swathed in vintage keys. Room At The Top is another crunching head-nodder, a concrete disco floor-filler inspired by JG Ballard’s short story Billennium. Found Footage is lush but with a hint of menace, as though Bowie had taken a particularly weird turn after “Heroes”. Glass Delusion goes for broke with its pounding Glitterbeat and wonderfully sleazy boogalator riff, while album closer Quatermass II voyages into heavier territory as befits its chanted title – as the track’s intro says, it’s not for listeners of a nervous disposition, but for the rest of us, it’s a treat.