Following on from 2022’s critically-acclaimed debut album Grave Metallum, Unwanted Guest (the solo project of Seventh Son guitarist Dave Fox) make a welcome return with its sophomore long player Bonedead. Featuring a dozen blistering cuts of ‘90s influenced rock and metal, this is an album bursting at the seams with great ideas and is a record stitched together by its own eclecticism. If it’s hard-arsed, but thoughtful, metal you’re after then you’ve come to the right place because Unwanted Guest will make themselves right at home on your stereo.
A children’s rhyme set over a discombobulating soundscape, ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ gets Bonedead off to a rather strange start and will have you thinking that this is no ordinary album…and you’d be quite right. It’s a bizarre introduction, but it makes the perfect foil for the coming storm and means that when Unwanted Guest kick in, it is with some power. Heavily laden with groove, it swings with wrecking ball force; ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ is (like the rest of the album) a riff-centric affair, though not exclusively, Dave Fox can still pull off a good solo, yet mostly this record relies on the unrelenting riff to batter down the wall of your cranium, and it’s something of which I very much approve.
Bonedead is a concept album built around the theme of time and its reductive cogency, yet it’s loose enough for the listener to infer their own meaning, it doesn’t feel the need to spell out its message and therein lies its power. A similar thing applies to the lyricism; this is a very personal album on which Dave Fox bravely bares his soul, yet they are themes to which everyone can relate and this creates a tangible bond between artist and listener. However, sometimes it is best not to overanalyse things too much and Bonedead affords plenty of opportunity for some old school air guitar and headbanging action (see ‘Dead End’ and ‘Show Yourself’).
There’s plenty of variety on offer here with ‘Beneath The Broken Shell’ breaking out the acoustic guitar to ensure the album ebbs and flows like a traditional album. Some technology has been utilised on Bonedead, but it still has an organic feel and my CD version has the same warmth as a nice slab of vinyl. The staccato riff found on ‘Kindred State Of Mind’ taps out strange kind of Morse Code and as we reach the albums conclusion ‘Future Skeleton’ and ‘Funeral In My Brain’ bring a sense of finality. Yet, closer ‘Wrap Me Up’ bursts with such ferocity that suggests this is far from the end.
Album number two finds Unwanted Guest travelling on an upward trajectory and Bonedead will be a welcome at any gathering.
- Bonedead is released via DK Records on 20th September 2024 and is available here.
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Track List:
- Mary Had A Little Lamb
- Six Degrees Of Saturation
- The Alchemist
- Dead End
- Beneath The Broken Shell
- Imposter Syndrome
- I’m Just A Guy
- Show Yourself
- Kindred State Of Mind
- Future Skeleton
- Funeral In My Brain
- Wrap Me Up
I have both Dave’s albums and this one is in my opinion a level up from the first. I play both of them very regularly in the car.