Hot Water Music have released a lot of albums, and I have a copy of most of them. In fact, they've released so many and I have so many I struggle to think which ones I'm missing. As much as I like the band, I'd say that you could live quite happily only owning Fuel For the Hate Game, Caution and A Flight And a Crash, but such a statement is bound to piss some people off. The first time I saw the band was in 2010 (with Leatherface and Solutions in Newport, a gig I travelled back to Wales for) and a friend commented afterwards that he didn't think they should have played songs from The New What Next (their most recent album at the time) as it wasn't worth "trying to get them to work"; he wasn't a fan of that record, I can't begin to imagine what he made of the two that have since followed.
For what it's worth, I thought The New What Next had one really great song (Poison, the opening song. That said, I have the cd, which doesn't include Kill the Night, another song I really like). Similarly, this long-awaited comeback album from 2012 also has one truly great song - Drag My Body. Anyone who read my last post on Chuck Ragan's Live at Skaters' Palace will know I have a lot of time for that song. I strongly suspect that it's actually a song he wrote himself and ended up on a HWM album rather than a solo one - that's no criticism of the rest of the band, it just works incredibly well solo whereas a lot of others don't.
Exister isn't a bad record by any stretch - Mainline, State of Grace and Paid In Full are all solid songs. Is it a vital album for anyone getting into the band? No. Is it an enjoyable listen? Yes. You can't really complain about that. I picked my copy up in Banquet Records along with a handful of other new releases I was catching up on. The vinyl is lovely - the brown and blue swirl, although looks better on side 1 than side 2.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 09/07/12
Colour: Blue and brown swirl
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
