blue orchids: righteous harmony fist

Martin Bramah and his Blue Orchids bandmates have never been prolific, with albums appearing sparingly. Righteous Harmony Fist is a surprise on the heels of The Once And Future Thing (2015) and Factory Star's Enter Castle Perilous (2011); they'll soon return to the studio to record yet another. However those songs may or may not look back, the present and future beckon. "If They Ever Lay A Finger On Us", a rare cover originally written by Manchester combo Bingo Harry, whose debut album will arrive in coming months, is a hymn for the righteous weary set in an age of turmoil, whereas "Deep State" turns modern political paranoia on its heels, with its comparison of flawed societal thinking to a highly troubled kid: "Tiny said 'the Earth is flat'/Hit his teacher with a cricket bat/Now he hides in the woods and eats his meat raw/While teacher sucks her soup through a drinking straw." "Beached" is a classic paranoid rant in the style of "Work"; built-up aggression and intensity, a joyous purge in the light of doom, and no Blue Orchids record would be complete without a sort of saga, in this case the mysterious "Lancelot's Last Word". The highlights of the album may be "The Lad That Time Forgot", which latches The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) (1982)'s melancholy to more assured backing, or "Incandescent Artillery", a soaring anthem built around John Paul Moran's organ line. Blue Orchids was formed by Martin Bramah and Una Baines, both past members of The Fall.