Gengahr - Heroine

Gengahr like to hang their music on a knife edge. Songs go from soft-centred honeys to murderous beasts in brilliant flashes. Felix Bushe’s vocals - glued to a creeping falsetto - run counter to vicious guitar parts from John Victor, who often sounds like he’s being electrocuted after plugging in too many pedals at once.

‘Heroine’ is a gutsy example of the band’s split personality. “I’ve changed for better now there’s metal in my head,” sings Bushe, like a loved up robot seeking solace. He runs into trouble. What follows is a ramping up of ferocity, culminating in Victor’s most ‘The Bends’-channelling solo yet. Nobody does sinister quite like Gengahr. Their songs don’t have happy endings, and what might begin as a romantic serenade soon dives into a pit of bloodlusting piranhas. Few bands pull off this kind of Jekyll & Hyde routine with such success.