NAPE NECK ‘The Shallowest End’ LP

Description

2nd LP now out (September 2025)

Reviewed here: post trash

“Nape Neck is an apex predator, a ghost in the machine, a call to arms, and one of the most electrifying rock bands on the planet. For the last five years, Nape Neck has been perfecting their sharp-angled post-punk—patiently, steadily, unerringly—and The Shallowest End is proof of concept, spread out over ten songs of gratifying anxiety. Based in Leeds, England, the trio consists of bassist/singer Claire Adams (also in the excellent Objections), drummer/singer Kathy Gray, and guitarist/singer Bobby Glew (also drummer in scorched-earth noise rock duo Guttersnipe). While The Shallowest End is Nape Neck’s first full-length album, it is not their debut. That would be the self-titled LP that came out earlier in 2025 which collected the band’s first two cassette EPs into a single volume of bruising and playful rhythm-focused punk rock. Along with that collection, The Shallowest End is being released into the world by three cutting-edge labels—Red Wig (Germany), OCCII, Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Dot Dash Sounds (USA).

Nape Neck sprouts up in the agitprop section of the record store, the area where movement—geographical, calisthenic, revolutionary—is necessary. As humanity pushes against the limits of technological utopianism, Nape Neck brings you back to your body, its place in the public sphere and what it means to be a functioning person within the confines that society has erected to contain you. With every stinging guitar line, coiled bass riff and well-placed drum hit, Nape Neck is outlining a means of resistance, without sacrificing the pleasures of the flesh. The trio operate like a well-oiled machine, interlocking at odd angles then moving in perfect concert to achieve their goals. This kind of poetic clamor is a different kind of rock music, one indebted to pioneers such as The Ex, Big Flame and Red Monkey. Solidifying the link, The Shallowest End was mastered by Arnold de Boer from The Ex.

“The Floor of a Forest” splices slashes of guitar between the punishing swing of the rhythm section, while on the thrilling, careening “Dig For Misery,” Gray pulls out the cowbell to give it a touch of boogie. All three members of Nape Neck sing, which gives their songs the feeling of a community activity, like a choir of tradespeople getting yogether to sing the working-class anthems of Crass and the Mekons. With its razor-sharp guitar and burly rhythms, “Pylon” comes at you like a hardcore Gang of Four, but the way all three members’ voices blend in seething vehemence is as cathartic as it is exciting. The title track pulls back the vocal attack and adds some melody to the trance-like music, while “Tube Man” is the first chance to gulp some oxygen, but it’s not as if the flurry of stop/start rhythms and declarative singing led by Glew is much of a respite. On the comparatively epic final cut “Wide Awake,” they sing “All it takes is people/Let it carry on.” As they wade through The Shallowest End, Nape Neck is out there fighting the good fight and the music they make is imperative, invigorating and indispensable.”

– Erick Bradshaw (Spin Age Blasters with Creamo Coyl on WFMU)

Edition of 463 copies, September 2025