Royal Trux - Hand Of Glory

From a long-forgotten trunk; two extended jams, twin slabs, circa 1989. Continuing Fire Records’ series of classic remastered albums from Royal Trux, Hand Of Glory is released on silver vinyl.

This bad-ass black, white and blue magic is a kind of Burial Dub… or so preached the sleeve of Hand Of Glory on its original release in 2002. Legend has it, the two sides of this 40-minute gem were recorded between 1985 and 1989. The resultant mountain of creativity from where they hail were inevitably left under a scuzzy sofa as life and a career that ebbed and flowed over nine albums. Royal Trux became an inspirational tipping point for everyone from Pavement and Sonic Youth to the Black Keys, Kurt Cobain, The Avalanches and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. “I urge and encourage you to enter the harmolodic multiverse of their music.” Alexis Taylor, Hot Chip

Hand Of Glory is not like their other albums but then again none of their albums are alike, it’s a two-faced masterpiece. Side one’s ‘Domo Des Burros’/‘Two Sticks’ is on par with Beefheart’s sprawling ‘Troutmask Replica’. It plays out in 19 minutes, sounding like it was laid down on Warhol’s sofa in The Factory; like Dylan’s sprawling ‘Desolation Row’ with, background squalls, interruptions and both Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema’s overlayed stream of consciousness peeping through a multi-layered backdrop. It’s just staggering.

Side two’s ‘The Boxing Story’, a loose homage to William Burroughs, moulds and morphs from tape to tape, a multi-speed soundtrack, while the dynamic duo press pause, guitars ring, occasional melodic lines arrive and evaporate. Lou Reed’s pastoral Metal Machine Music could perhaps be recognized as an older and perhaps less challenging sibling.

A two-sided masterpiece featuring two wayward pieces of creative genius.