MASSIVE WAGONS - ‘House of Noise’

“‘House of Noise’ is a cracker of an album … it’s big, it’s ballsy, it’s beautiful and a whole lot of fun. Packed with top tunes, it’ll help you forget your worries, what we’ve been through and where we are. And if Massive Wagons weren’t a household name before this, they deserve to be now”.

Coming almost two years after the release of their outstanding breakthrough album, ‘Full Nelson’, expectation of Massive Wagons has been high. Could the cheeky Lancaster lads repeat the success which saw them enter the UK album charts at No. 16 in 2018 and secure a series of high-profile tour support slots that many acts could only have dreamed of? Let’s just say ‘House of Noise’ doesn’t just match ‘Full Nelson’ … it delivers much, much more.

For longer-term fans the quality of this, their fifth studio album, shouldn’t surprise. It matches the power and sing-along glories of ‘Full Nelson’, but is also heavier in places than it’s predecessor. Again, this shouldn’t be a surprise for older fans. The band’s sound has evolved over the years and 2016’s ‘Welcome to the World’ found a band in transition with it’s heavy opener ‘Nails’ closely followed by ‘Tokyo’ and the outstanding ‘Ratio’ which demonstrated that the Wagons can write modern radio-friendly anthems which can hold their own with any ‘80’s rock classics, which are now permanent features in my running playlists and like New York, New York (the city which was so good they named it twice) both got a second outing on ‘Full Nelson’ to reach a wider and growing fan base.

So, what does ‘House of Noise’ have to offer? First track, and first single, ‘In it Together’ starts where ‘Back to the Stack’ left off and finds a band who grew up listening to AC/DC and Quo riffing out, with a towering melodic chorus above. I’m not going to do an in-depth track by track review here as there is too much to write about and this would spoil your fun in exploring the album. What I will say is that in keeping with their name, everything about this album is massive – the sound, the guitars, the choruses, the tunes and the smile which this will leave on your face. Oh, and also did I mention the ‘80’s AOR influence? Not something I’d normally associate with Massive Wagons, but they’ve embraced all that is great in rock music, added much of their own and produced an original album that is unmistakably them and us.

Top tune after tune, ‘House of Noise’, keeps them coming – the anthemic ‘Bangin’ In Your Stereo’, the title track ‘House of Noise’ which as an advert for the album couldn’t provide a stronger representation of the quality contained within and ‘Freak City’ the chorus of which manages to sound like both ‘Jean Genie’ and classic AOR at the same time. ‘Hero’ changes the feel with a slice of 80’s metal and is followed by the ferocious ‘Professional Creep’.

Listening to ‘House of Noise’, it’s clear that Massive Wagons are growing in confidence. Few other bands could retain a credible act while getting away with the ‘Curry Song’ – an ode to curry in all it’s glory. From “Cook it hot - hot, hot, hot” to “Coconut – not, not not” not to mention managing to work in “Send my arse through the fires of hell, Let Satan deal with the awful smell”. Owing much in spirit to the 3 T’s (Terrorvision, Tony Wright and ‘Tequila’), make no mistake this is much more than a novelty song and a great track in it’s own right, with a Wildhearts-esque soaring melodic chorus, ZZ Top-style guitars and sudden tempo changes taking us literally and musically from Rogan Josh to mosh.

Sandwiching the ‘Curry Song’ are two unashamedly AOR-influenced gems, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Glorious’, but, particularly in the case of ‘Pressure’, do not mistake AOR for gentle or slow. ‘Sad, Sad Song’ provides probably THE chorus of the album, is followed by ‘Hallescrewya’ (the initially hymnal-sounding tale of a punter who left one of their gigs early and this is the band’s response “to the man who left the show”) before the album closes with the 8-minute epic ‘Matter of Time’ which finds the band in much lower-key and more reflective mode with Baz singing gently above some atmospheric, restrained and building guitar.

As a band, much attention understandably focuses on the Wagons’ high-energy and charismatic front man Baz Mills, but Massive Wagons are very much a unit, with some great guitar work and interplay throughout from Adam Thistlethwaite (who has not 1, but 3 Flying V’s in his collection) and Stevie Holl, backed by the fiercely solid rhythm section of Adam ‘Bowzer’ Bouskill on bass and Alex Thistlethwiate on drums. As mentioned earlier, the sound on this album is massive. A shout-out is deserved to Colin Richardson who produced ‘House of Noise’ and whose previous credits include Slipknot, Those Damn Crows and Machine Head.

Despite their many influences Massive Wagons manage something quite special and difficult. In the sometimes crowded rock market their sound is unique. Putting it simply, there is no band quite like them, and that, my friends, deserves much kudos and respect.

‘House of Noise’ is a cracker of an album. It picks up where ‘Full Nelson’ left off and delivers an even richer, more diverse and rewarding album. It’s big, it’s ballsy, it’s beautiful and a whole lot of fun. Packed with top tunes, it’ll help you forget your worries, what we’ve been through and where we are. And if Massive Wagons weren’t a household name before this, they deserve to be now.

Order your copy today, give it a spin and join the party.

Massive Wagons have also just announced a 13-date headlining U.K. tour in support of House of Noise in March 2021 -

11 March 2021 - Glasgow, Garage
12 March 2021 - Sheffield, Foundry
13 March 2021 - London, O2 Islington Academy
15 March 2021 - Norwich, Waterfront
16 March 2021 - Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
18 March 2021 - Southend, Chinnerys
19 March 2021 - Birmingham O2 Academy 2
20 March 2021 - Liverpool, Hangar 34
23 March 2021 - Cardiff, The Globe
24 March 2021 - Southampton, Engine Rooms
25 March 2021 - Exeter, Cavern Club
27 March 2021 - Newcastle, Riverside
28 March 2021 - Manchester, Club Academy

GMcA