(COPRO RECORDS)
Produced by 'Copro Records' man in the know and in demand, Pete Brown has had hell of a great year in producing. As if producing awesome albums by Phluid and Fony wasn't enough, his production skills here have lent a vibrant air of exhilaration to Walrus' 11-track debut album� even if there's a disclaimer joking that 'Pete accepts no responsibility whatsoever for this thing!'
Humping out of the nearest zoo, Walrus are a politico-rock trio from London with a lot on their minds and confrontational intent to air their views.
Julian Gibson is the mainman on guitar and vocals, with bassist Chris Spice and drummer Jamie Swettenham helping the band's sound dynamically pulsate through the Extreme-styled funk of 'Play,' the yet funkier punk-rock of 'The Time Is Now' ('Pile up the profit, never count the cost') and the chilled-out moments of 'Sorry' and, later, 'The Truth.'
They can do loud, soft, punk - and they certainly rock. Like bastard Walruses hell-bent on changing the world's multinational companies' selfish attitudes to towards making money. Sealing their product with appalling facts, the liner notes state that 'the world spends �800 billion a year on weapons of war.' God knows how accurate a figure that is, but the important thing is that this band care. And because they so passionately do, so should you.
Walrus hack out a truly awesome original rock sound, yet remind in spasms of Phluid and Rage Against The Machine. Hell, Julian's vocals on the album highlight - the melodic anthem of 'Nothing Left' - even remind of maverick Alt.-pop maestro Ian Mc Nabb.
They mean what they're singing and playing about alright, so if I were you I would Walrus at once to witness this fresh abattoir of flexing punk rock-tarred muscle.
4/5 Steve Rudd
www.walrusrock.co.uk
Release Date: November 3rd 2003.