Spear Of Destiny
Operation Neptune Spear is the brainchild of one man, Michael Sherratt, who tackles all aspects of this recording, the whole gamut my friends, on his tod. That to me is utterly staggering, and worthy of high praise, so let us feast on his endeavours. Set in our modern dystopia, displaying images of beatings and burnings, our friend here pulls together an horrific cross -section of our world and serves it up with a huge slice of anger, hostility and a chunk of carnage for dessert. From deepest, darkest Sheffield, he flies the flag for British steel; robust, fearless and with a sinister glint, it’s musical fighting folks.
‘Class War’ opens this soundtrack to a bare -knuckle brawl, roll up your sleeves and get stuck in I say, as enough is enough and this is no time to stand down. The rhythmic drumming and strumming, accentuated by the hail of bullets chant of ‘1,2,3,4, they declared a class war’ sends you charging headlong into the sprawling mass of bodies who won’t be silenced.
‘In The Pale Moonlight’ reeks of despair and degradation and kicks you in the shins with
‘who made your bed? You got to die in it’, it is incredibly challenging to listen to, you can only access this truly through an open mind and heart and absorb it like your life depends on it. At 3.28 things are calmer yet empyreal, the anger dissipates and we take a moment to reflect.
‘Momento Mori’ is nestled in the grime and guttural, decaying environment that generates all the might and power of rampaging wildebeest. The riff at 2.12 is reminiscent of Hendrix and has that old school rock aura about it. The ‘hubris of the elite’ is broached as he dives into the corrupted sewer of politics to emerge untainted. Complete with crunching on gravel vocals and repetition of some lyrics to add emphasis and weight to the message, take a seat at his table ladies and gents.
Finishing with the profound ‘ Sins Of The Saints’ we ponder ‘can saints be sinners?’ If to err is human then it’s possible, maybe a touch simplistic but our very nature is spoilt by ego, double standards, greed, and other frailties. I imagined this as a sermon , with a fire-breathing Mr Sherratt barbecuing his congregation. This EP traverses cryptically, criss-crosses locations and compartments, left a bit, right a bit, then circle once only to be thrown off a cliff at the end, cue psychotic laughter, timely and twisted. Artists like ONS attack on the front foot, they hope to antagonise and instigate change so we can all have a better life.
Grab your spear of destiny my friends, it’s time.
Azra Pathan
Operation Neptune Spear – Class War out now via self-release.