 "Deep Feeling Album" | 2007-11-07 |
| - Reviewed By stardomains |
| If you have ever had a deep sensual feeling you can't go wrong with this album. This dude singing reaches deep and paints it out for us to emote with him. If you never could express certain feelings then you can get help with this band. This album is an essential sensual rocking shoegazing bonanza. |
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| "Catherine Wheel: Ferment" | 2007-03-31 |
| - Reviewed By mattmattmattmattv |
This is an awesome CD and an awesome band. The 90's were definitely the decade where I became musically aware, and most of my favorite bands are from that decade, but somehow I never heard - or even heard of - Catherine Wheel until 2007. Man, I was missing out. I actually fell in love with them via "Crank," a song from CW's second album, Chrome...but by now, I like Ferment even better than Chrome.
If you have always wished that Radiohead would make a sequel to The Bends, then check out Catherine Wheel. And after going through Catherine Wheel's catalog, you might check out The Autumns for a current band that makes this (EXACT!) kind of music. Also, obviously, get The Bends if you don't have it yet. Enjoy. |
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| "sunlight bleaches you" | 2007-03-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A97AELEUASS1P |
| A very impressive debut album from a band that will help shape and shift the landscape of the British underground. Compared to other Catherine Wheel albums, Ferment is very raw in it's production and is the main reason that they were lumped into the shoegazer category. Beautiful pop melodies that are twisted around a vaccuum of distorted fuzz to create a powerful collection of tunes. Catherine Wheel has always had the ability to make you weep with their frailty and then rip your face like an emotional juggernaut. It all starts with Ferment. Rob Dickinson begins to develop his signature breathy vocals. His voice truly is another instrument. Brian Futter drops bombs of ambient distortion. Neils Simms and Dave Hawes anchor the songs so that they don't sail 10,000 miles over the moon. Over time, Catherine Wheel would develop and refine their sound even more but this is the album that started it all. Outstanding. |
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| "A great album to sum up the Manchester scene in the early 90's" | 2007-01-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A17HJL60XSE15J |
Anyone who knows the early sounds of the 90's would hear every trick in this outstanding album produced by Catherine Wheel. A great example of the 'Manchester scene' that captures those distinctive wayward guitar rifts and catchy melodies, a must for anyone who wants to bring those days back to life.
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 "The best single second of alt-rock ever recorded" | 2006-12-11 |
| - Reviewed By drumz |
...is the one in which those four sixthteenth-note snare hits rocket us out of the moody interlude of "Black Metallic" at the 6:03 mark and back into that impeccible guitar-drenched finale. You want catharsis? This is catharsis.
The rest of the album isn't exactly bad either. |
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| "Pure Genious..." | 2006-11-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: AD9HFBK6BQKM3 |
| You can say what you want about the whole "shoegazing" movement to come out of the UK in the early 90's, but you cannot deny the utter brilliance of this album. Loveless by MBV and Nowhere by Ride are equally impressive albums, but Ferment is the complete package. Every song is a gem and I dare the listener to play Ferment, turn off the lights and see if it doesn't make your mind travel. "Flower to Hide" is a forgotten gem on the album that gave us "Black Metallic" and "I Want to Touch You". Other standout tracks to me are "Indigo is Blue" and the title track, "Ferment". Just buy it and find out for yourself |
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| "Absolutely brilliant" | 2006-07-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A4HRQZ1QLE696 |
| The pure beauty and melody this album has is haunting. It's a sin and a shame that so many great bands are swallowed up by the music industry's greed due to their promotion of more "marketable" bands. This album has pretty much everything you can think of that is supposed to be melodic rock. There aren't many more words I can say because of all the other great reviews. If you are thinking about getting this album, stop reading right now, go up to the top and purchase it. You WILL NOT REGRET IT. |
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| "My all-time favorite band..." | 2006-05-08 |
| - Reviewed By brain-cloud |
I fell in love with these guys in high school. While the rest of my suburban classmates were listening to either The Fugees or Hootie and the Blowfish (oh how fun it was being an outcast in that school) - I lucked out and thankfully stumbled upon Catherine Wheel.
I remember taking guitar lessons when I was 15, and when I got decent enough my instructor said if I wanted to learn how to play a song, he'd teach me. So, I brought my copy of Ferment in and told him he had to teach me how to play Black Metallic. To my novice glee, it was quite easy to play. This is what I found so wonderful about it. A song with just a few chords that ended up being THAT timeless and brilliant, on a band's first album, made me love the song even more than I already did. Recently I saw Rob play on his solo tour... After playing an acoustic Black Metallic, he laughed and said something along the lines of "ah, Thank God for Black Metallic... things would've been a lot different if that one had never been made!" ;)
I Want To Touch You, Indigo Is Blue and She's My Friend are my other favorites... And Ferment isn't even one of my favorite CW albums.
It is such a crime that they never got the recognition they deserved... Rob may be thankful for Black Mettalic - I'm just thankful for discovering Catherine Wheel when I did. How different things would've been had I become a Hootie and the Blowfish fan ;) |
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| "Transcends Time and Space" | 2005-05-31 |
| - Reviewed By rare-stuff |
While not as good as their two subsequent releases (Chrome and Happy Days) the debut by England's The Catherine Wheel still manages to transcends time and space and bring the listener closer to the infinite.
The head trip guitar layers of Texture starts things off well and I Want To Touch You is a cleaver bit of obsession. But Black Metallic was the song that was played on the radio at the time. It defined Catherine Wheel's original sound. The live version of this song is even better. Buy it if you can find it.
There is plenty of ambiguity in Catherine Wheel's lyrics as well which makes the experience of the avid listener all the more enjoyable. A few songs are reminiscent of groups like Psychedelic Furs (Flower To Hide), early Blur (Balloon and She's My Friend) and Ride (Indigo Is Blue and Shallow). But all have the indelible mark of genius.
[DW]
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| "Bathe yourself in guitar-wash." | 2005-01-28 |
| - Reviewed By danielknouse |
| Imagine a band with all the melodicism of The Stone Roses debut album mixed with guitar flourishes reminiscent of Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation." That's what this album sounds like to me. Catherine Wheel often bombard the listener with walls of guitar bombast that threaten to drown out the rhythm section but somehow, through excellent production techniques no doubt, the drums hold their own and the bass is actually as memorable in moments as the lead guitar work. Thanks to the bass playing, in fact, the songs never lose direction with all the lead guitar theatrics creatively washing over the listener in waves of crashing guitar-pedal mayhem. Standout tracks are everywhere, so it is really a pointless exercise on my part to point them out. For what it's worth, "I Want To Touch You" and "Bill and Ben" are magnificent concoctions that explode through my brain with every spin of this CD. But there is not a weak track on the album, and the depth of the songwriting is both emotionally and instrumentally rewarding. Pick up this CD, turn the volume way up, and bathe yourself in the rich guitar-wash of Catherine Wheel's "Ferment." Highly recommended. |
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