Black Honey - Written & Directed

Roaring out of the gates like a dragster in the dust, the new release from Black Honey is a record so ridiculously cinematic that it should come with a bucket of sweet and salty popcorn and an XXL drink on the side. Phones off in the theatre please, the movie is about to begin.

The pace is set from the start with the stomping ‘I Like The Way You Die’, with Izzy B. Phillips in no mood for prisoners and an even lower tolerance for bs. “The monster in the dark is me” she warns in a statement of that empowers as much as it towers over you. To say that the first few tracks are fast-paced is one hell of a understatement, these are songs that will trample over anyone not paying attention and leave them in the dust. Following the power harmonies and lightning riffs of the turbo-charged psychobilly ‘Run For Cover’ with the delicious glamrock-meets-Amy of ‘Beaches’ is just glorious frankly, even if it isn’t quite a pace that they can maintain. Moments of sweetness arrive in the shape of ‘Back Of The Bar’, while ‘Summer 92’ (the second song this month to reference that year) is a gorgeous slice of nostalgia.

With horns and choirs one moment, colliding with crunching guitars in the next, it’s the sound of a band that have pulled no punches, not compromising their vision in the slightest and yet still seems even more sharply focussed than their debut. Reshaping the world around her, the spotlight is shining even more brightly on Izzy and is all the better for it. Already an icon to many, here she is using that status to empower and inspire a whole new generation to follow in her footsteps. They’ve definitely done more than enough to get another sequel here.