Primal Scream – Evil Heat (2xLP, Magenta Vinyl)

Primal Scream’s Evil Heat arrived in 2002 as the final chapter of the band’s so-called Bunker Trilogy, following Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR. It catches Bobby Gillespie’s group at their most abrasive and studio-driven, pushing together krautrock motion, electro-punk textures and industrial pressure rather than settling into one style. One of the album’s most telling period details is that “Rise” was originally titled “Bomb The Pentagon” before being changed in the aftermath of 9/11.

The cast around the record says a lot about its sound. Kevin Shields was involved in producing some tracks, Andrew Weatherall was part of the wider production picture, Kate Moss appears on the Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra cover “Some Velvet Morning”, and Robert Plant contributes harmonica to “The Lord Is My Shotgun”. That mix of guests suits an album built from contrasting surfaces: distorted guitars, heavy beats, electronic murk and a restless, sometimes hypnotic pull.

This expanded reissue is part of the first wave of enlarged editions for the trilogy and makes a strong case for Evil Heat as a key document of Primal Scream’s 1997-2002 experimental phase. The original album is joined by a curated set of B-sides and rarities, while the remaster was overseen by Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes and completed by Matt Colton at Metropolis. Darran Anderson’s liner notes help frame a record that still feels like one of the band’s most searching and confrontational studio statements.

Features

• Expanded reissue edition of Primal Scream’s 2002 album
• 2LP on magenta vinyl
• 140g vinyl
• Gatefold sleeve
• Remastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, London
• Mastering supervised by Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes
• Original album plus curated B-sides and rarities
• Liner notes by Darran Anderson

Reviews

• This latest album, Evil Heat, is brilliant, and the band sound more singular than ever. – The Guardian