In our accelerated culture where fads and fashions come and go (and with increasing rapidity), it’s heartening that some bands remain impervious to the latest trends. One such group are Birmingham’s very own Quartz who’ve been captains of their own ship and steered a course through choppy water for half a century. While fame and fortune might have alluded them, they’ve left an enviable discography in their wake and latest long player, Six, is a sparkling gem in their jewel encrusted crown.
Originally formed in 1974 under the moniker “Bandy Legs”, the band paid their dues in cabaret clubs throughout the Midlands before adopting the Quartz moniker and releasing their eponymously-titled, metal-flavoured debut album at the height of punk. It was this flying in the face of convention that would characterise the band’s career and keep them (dare I say) cult favourites. Still, over the years they’ve been honing their craft and, if those aggregate websites are to be believed, have been ageing like the proverbial wine. Six picks right up where its predecessor (2022’s On The Edge Of No Tomorrow) left off and comes racing out the blocks with ‘Insomnia’. While many of their peers are settling into the heritage circuit, ‘Insomnia’ bristles with an energy that’d put many younger bands to shame and sets a dangerous precedent for the coming 48-minutes. Yet, don’t mistake the band as one-dimensional because there’s a hell of a lot of variety on here with no two songs inhabiting the same sonic space. Case in point being the following ‘Come Hell Or High Water’ that crashes down a gear for a muscular brand of metal that throws its weight around like a prizefighter, before the band put a tiger in their tank and open the throttle on ‘Burn In Hell’. It’s here where the band’s experience comes into play and ensures the record ebbs and flows like an old school album, meaning it’ll hold your attention over its dozen tracks.
While it’s certainly true that Quartz aren’t reinventing the wheel, they’re not rolling backwards either. Six is simply the sound of a band doing what they do best by playing the music they love. There’s a reason why the fiery brand of metal found on tracks such as ‘Wake Up!’ has stood the test of time, and quite frankly it’s because it is the mutt’s nuts. Yet, the energy with which the likes of ‘Bad Luck’ are delivered place Quartz right here in the present and ensure this is no mere exercise in nostalgia, the result being an album that’s sure to sound fresh and dynamic many years hence.
Departing as they arrived, ‘Knights Of Darkness’ explodes all sorts of musical fireworks and suggests there’s much more to come from this crew, but for now they’ve rolled a perfect Six.
- Six is released via Cargo Records on 18th April 2025 and is available here.
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Track List:
- Insomnia
- Come Hell Or High Water
- Give It All You’ve Got
- Burn In Hell
- Fires Of Hell
- Broken Promises
- Wake Up!
- I’m A Survivor
- The Last Time
- Bad Luck
- Cerberus
- Knights Of Darkness
