Steve Rapid, Pete Holidai, Tony St Ledger, Johnny Bonnie and Bren Lynott have been honourably extending the legacy of The Radiators from Space since the untimely death of Philip Chevron in 2013 by forging razor-sharp nuggets of 21st-century rock'n'roll punk.
Blood, Glass & Gasoline is their second album and follow-up to Dark Shadows and Rust in 2017. Blasting out of the traps with two infectious singles, the Pilgrims waste no time in getting down to raucous business. “Sometimes I like the old days better,” goes a wonderfully gravelly vocal on Old Days, but this isn’t the sound of a band standing still or wallowing in a bath of nostalgia.
They are brilliant musicians, peppering these nine tracks with killer riffs and nifty melodies. The guitar intro and buzzing chorus of Free to Dance is reminiscent of classic pop punk by The Undertones and The Buzzcocks.
Their attitude and swagger is undershot by a pertinent social conscience on the closing track, Light a Penny Candle, which is reprised as a bonus track featuring Phelim Drew. The victims of modern homelessness are cast as "heroes of the night" with incisive and sometimes angry lyrics such as "the stench of rotten government on Moore Street traders's stalls won't feed the poor and hungry outside trendy food-packed halls".
Light a Penny Candle references a Radiators from Space classic entitled Under Clery's Clock, authored by Philip Chevron as anti-homophobia ballad. Chevron's spirit is very much alive on this fine second album.
