Lonesaw: Barbed Wire Church – “a brutal sonic atrocity”

As a music scene, by and large Liverpool does its own thing, very much ignoring the current trends of the rest of the country. While this may be true, a lot of local artists still find themselves leaning into worlds of psychedelia and pop of eras gone by.

Not Lonesaw.

Having created their own obscure close-nit community (including opening their own creative space/venue, QUARRY, just before lockdown), Lonesaw have been going against the grain for some time now, venturing down a rabbit hole that seemingly leads to a unique grotesque underworld.

Barbed Wired Church is their first slab of industrial esoteric noise from their forthcoming debut studio E.P.

Having witnessed the band live on numerous occasions over the past two years, it was difficult to see how Lonesaw could emulate this acerbic dissonant sound within the confines of a studio.

There were thoughts that they would be a live behemoth and very little else – a mere local legend that would produce tales of “do you remember…?” in twenty years time.

Thankfully, this is not the case and Barbed Wire Church clearly represents Lonesaw both as a live and studio artist – a testament to the band and local producer, Stephen Cole, who meticulously mixed and mastered the song at his Whatstudio, leaving no stone unturned.

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The Suicide-inspired creepy motorik beats leave their mark, cutting and bleeding into an ear-splitting drum sequence that causes instant shock, like a chainsaw passing through hanging meat in a butcher’s cold room.

Accompanied by the equally creepy Jon Stonehouse directed video, Barbed Wire Church is a brutal sonic atrocity that Einstürzende Neubauten would be proud of. Equally, it would probably be the soundtrack of choice to accompany Satan on an acid trip.

Barbed Wire Church is available for purchase via the band’s Bandcamp page.