Reviewed by Tony Cummings

What do you make of a band whose lead singer sings a song atop a red satin-sheeted bed, dressed in an old-fashioned nightshirt while a flashing beacon on top of the iron grill bed head illuminates a "prohibited" road sign? NLM are Holland's most daring, and successful, rock gospel evangelists who for the last six years have been making music which lead singer David Pearce describes as "heavenly metal" but which is actually a nice fusion of grunge, indie and goth. Lyrics are ferociously outspoken -"Animal Rights" gets its message over after an intro featuring a welter of barking dogs and closes with the cry of a baby before the singer screams at it to shut up. "New Age" (which the Christian Broadcasting Network have used for a video for screening across Russia) is powerful too. The mix isn't quite right but there's plenty here to appeal to those wanting cutting edge alternative music.

Also reviewed in CR44:
To say that David Pierce and his band have a weird sense of humour is an understatement as I found out to my cost when I interviewed them for this issue. That sense of humour is represented in NLM's live show and songwriting. This, their debut album, was released originally in 1991 and features such classics as "Animal Rights" which rightly examines the absurdity of animal right activists who are at the same time pro-abortion. It's sort of a cross between Steve Taylor's satire and Alice Cooper's in your face rock attack. Here their chunky uncompromising message is dressed in low budget alternative rock/death metal clothes. The title tune is a 100 mile an hour anthem to abstinence, the message wonderfully at odds with the wildness of the music.
6
Mike Rimmer

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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