Jesse Webb is the kernel of The Final Age, with New Hallucinations his second album under this name. A drummer of renown in various pockets of the UK musical underground since the decade before last, with much of his reputation forged in Bristol (he now lives in Hebden Bridge), in this guise he proves himself very able to commandeer a project, with this record’s nine songs featuring the input of twelve other musicians.
It’s a great and tangible ‘drummer’s album’, more so than the previous Final Age LP from 2018, but should still have much to appeal even if that doesn’t sound inherently appealing. Two of Webb’s co-performers from that album have returned. Vocals are shared between him and Annette Berlin, a Bristol scene stalwart who currently sings in Shoun Shoun and is a valuable component of ‘Synth 2’ – hypno-industrial of the Factory Floor ilk – and the slow, low-key ‘Pleasures’. And trumpeter Pete Judge, of Portishead-adjacent jazzers Get The Blessing, enlivens groove-chasing out-rockers ‘Penetralium’, whose particular ambience is on something of a Selvhenter tip.
It’s a great and tangible ‘drummer’s album’, more so than the previous Final Age LP from 2018, but should still have much to appeal even if that doesn’t sound inherently appealing. Two of Webb’s co-performers from that album have returned. Vocals are shared between him and Annette Berlin, a Bristol scene stalwart who currently sings in Shoun Shoun and is a valuable component of ‘Synth 2’ – hypno-industrial of the Factory Floor ilk – and the slow, low-key ‘Pleasures’. And trumpeter Pete Judge, of Portishead-adjacent jazzers Get The Blessing, enlivens groove-chasing out-rockers ‘Penetralium’, whose particular ambience is on something of a Selvhenter tip.