Album Review: Desperate Measures - Sublime Destruction
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Original formed in Christchurch, New Zealand, back in 1981 before relocating to London, Desperate Measures imbue the spirit of that age through eleven raucous slices of pure Punk Rock energy.
With a tight running time of a little over thirty-eight minutes, Desperate Measures are in no mood to waste a single second and Sublime Destruction opens with one of the lead singles, Back to the Rats, a trippy punk rock riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Monster Magnet record. Spacey guitar, courtesy of Michael Gaffney, rear their head elsewhere on Sublime Destruction, giving the whole listening experience a added nuance.
Not to say the record is a Hawkwind-type trip, rather it’s a full-on Punk & Roll platter with elements of the cosmic. Untouchable’s otherworldly influence is apparent, but that doesn’t detract from the fast and furious opening, turning into a more muted, heart-felt track.
Pocket, Lost Angels and The Rich-Tual are more straight-forward punk tunes; the first a simple but catchy earworm of a riff; the second made of muted chords leading to a big solo and the third, with its titular playfulness, is a high energy anthem of chugging guitar and political outrage
Flowers at Your Door begins with big, dense guitar and progresses in a more deliberate matter, whereas Seven Sisters is all about the sharp chords and serious intent, yet on both you can hear vocalist, Eugene Butcher adopting a chillingly effective Ian Astbury twang. Enjoy the Ride has the kind of sleezy grooves and hedonistic pleasures mostly associated with The Stooges or the New York Dolls.
Sublime Destruction produced another two singles, in the form of the Pistols influenced title track, a up tempo stormer with a huge bass sound from Ricky McGuire, driving drums from James Sherry and the trace of spacey guitar as things wind down. Thinking of England is a classic punk tune, with a hint of The Wildhearts sown in, though with the album having been recorded by Andy Brook, who had previously worked with Ginger, it’s not a complete surprise.
It all comes to a climax with the acoustic Still Got Me, leaving one to consider why a band with the obvious creative talent as Desperate Measures have such a sparse back-catalogue. The spirit of Punk is brimming out of all eleven songs of Sublime Destruction, catchy riffs and massive choruses abound, leading to a great listening experience and, no doubt, and even more impressive live one.
Having just come off a tour with Dead Boys, hopefully Desperate Measures have managed to get some immediate positive feedback of these tunes.
