“Werewolf” / “Rising From The Dead” +2 (Corpus Christi CHRIS ITS 1) August 1982
UK Decay | Rising From The Dread 12″ | (Corpus Christi) 1982 | The most extreme record in the pile, and despite / because of the hostile reactions it’s garnered in the office, a positive effective stab at daring to be different.
The first minute or so of ‘Werewolf’ consists of unsettling subhuman growls and sound effects – a perfect setting for UK Decay‘s rousing., invigorating music which is beginning to draw on a deep, almost mystical strength that places them at a point almost equi-distant between the Fall and U2 if that can be imagined, lusting after a supreme physical and mental peak.
UK Decay are sorely misunderstood (as much by a large section of their fans as by blinkered detractors) but vocalist Abbo is predestined to be much more influential soon.
I shall interview him and put him on the cover of Sounds, but for now, this record has the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut (Sounds, 14/08/82)
UK Decay can boldly assume the warrior mantle. Their superbly drilled tunes are reminiscent of Siouxsie’s circa ‘The Scream’ – they’re that good – encapsulating the discipline and anonymous ferocity that poses to pop the sort of niggling threat terrorism can be to the state rationale.
Only the convoluted mysticism of their songs lets them down, although the toppling of totems is effective enough on ‘Jersulaem Over (The White Cliffs Of Dover)’; and the invigorating ‘Werewolf’ transends the banality of its inner beast beckonings. (NME, 21/08/82)
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