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A limited (150 copies) edition vinyl release, and, as ever, all is not well in the world of Nick Carter. Despair, rage, horror at the state of the world all feature here, but if there’s a theme, it’s the protection of children (or rather, the lack of it).

All the instruments are played by Carter (apart from the drums, which he painstakingly samples as single drum hits from YouYube and builds to make drum tracks in Reaper software).*

There isn’t a bad song on this release, but inevitably, some are better than others. Long-time readers** will know I generally prefer slow-burn mid-paced material to all-out thrash (or god help us, crust/ grind), and I haven’t changed my mind recently, so for me the stand outs are suffer the children (hey ! victorious !), enabled enabler, and the title track - all of which showcase Carter’s brutal, chiming riffs and mastery of feedback (and on red flag files, a hitherto unguessed at funk underpinning – featuring fretless bass, no less).

If you want fast-paced riffs, then openers uniforms (to the self righteous cunts who mocked and questioned me), basal and living on borrowed dimes are the ones for you, but even these aren’t straight ahead four to the floor punk-a-rama.

white rabbit (the grief of no myxomatosis) features extraordinary guitar work - not sure I’d call it a solo - discordant, broken shards of noise, splintering across the stereo field, like a more fucked up Andy Gill***.

The sampled montage at the start of don (amen to all men) is a bit surplus to requirements, and the hiss on the vocal (presumably a side effect of the DIY recording technique) is a bit off-putting****, plus the first few minutes keep threatening to turn into The End by The Doors, but, honestly, that it pretty much the only negative thing I have to say about the songs on this release.

My only other caveat would be the cover art, which although it is very good of its type, is very much in the Nick Blinko/ Rudimetary Peni mode. I’m sure Carter would happily acknowledge the influence, but it gives the impression that the music is going to be some kind of Peni tribute, and it is MUCH better than that.*****

* I have some idea of how long and fiddly a process this is, and I am seriously impressed that he managed not only to do it, but to do it so well that you would easily believe that it’s a ‘real’ drummer.

**** Personally, I’d have made a feature of it and bunged on some distortion/ phaser, but that’s just me…

***** I favour a more restrained aesthetic, like the covers of the two previous releases, but what do I know? In any event, you don’t have to look at the cover when you’re playing the music… 9/10

"The Fall of Reason" (Album, 2021)

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Another DIY broadside from Nick Carter (late of Sanction This), and it's a ferocious, coruscating dissection of the ills of the world, consisting of five slabs of jet-black rage; as he says - "A litany of slaughter and butchery".

Guitars scream and grind, but also ring and soar, lights are snuffed out, bombers drone overhead, the new-born are crushed and the elderly die alone, while the media pump out images of consumerist excess and reality TV to a numbed and distracted nation.

The stand out song is Deceiver, where Carter sings of seeing the world "through the eyes of the dead" against a backdrop of propulsive Pailhead-style bass and piercing guitar. The title track is nine minutes of found noise, backwards feedback, and an almost stream-of-consciousness spoken lyric over chiming guitar driving toward a barrage of riffing at the end.

There's an old proverb that it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness, but on this release Carter manages to do both, which is an achievement in itself. The only weak point is Atrocity which has a too obvious chorus which lets it down somewhat, but overall a very satisfying follow-up to last year’s Loss, Decay and Insanity.

The high point for me is Carter snarling "This terror will fucking find you" with absolute conviction. 7/10

Nick Hydra (February 2022)

Bandcamp page: https://sickness2.bandcamp.com/album/the-fall-of-reason

[Loss, Decay and Insanity sleeve] "Loss, Decay and Insanity" (Album, 2020) !Recommended!

Sickness is a solo project from Nick Carter, and as the title implies, it is not a happy record.

Recorded in the spare bedroom of the marital home (some of it on his phone) following his decision to leave Sanction This due to health issues, depression is at the heart of this material, marking the songs with a dark smear as black and viscous as pitch; but coupled with a bloody-minded refusal to give in and a cathartic rage that is just as evident in every note and word.

The influences on show (principally Amebix – and thus Killing Joke - and Rudimentary Peni) are clear, but not overwhelmingly so; it sounds a lot like the best bits of Sanction This, but Sickness sounds like Sickness rather than any influences.

It’s a very difficult set of songs to listen to, as Loss, Decay and Insanity catalogues the disintegration of his mental health with a brutal list of torments. I could quote reams of lyrics from any of the songs here, but the image of being crushed in the cogs of a great machine, of being confined and tethered by straps and chains, of being imprisoned and entombed, of being devoured and consumed, of a numbness of the soul and a dulling of the senses recur throughout. 8/10

Sickness

"Red Flag Files" (Album, 2025) !Recommended!

"The Fall of Reason" (Album, 2021)

"Loss, Decay and Insanity" (Album, 2020) !Recommended!