album review
Erotic Secrets of Pompeii
Pitchfork Libra
Released: 2 October 2025
(5/5)
Second album from the band that LTW have been calling Future Megastars, for a couple years now. Are they ‘Prog Rock’? Are they the most pretentious or the most brilliantly imaginative band around? Punk evangelic relic Ged Babey should loathe them if he had principles to stick to, but insists they are ‘The Best Band on the Planet? Yeah, but which planet?’
There really isn’t another band around quite like Erotic Secrets of Pompeii.
They are Biblical! They are Supernatural!
They are a more like a living, breathing Fantasy or Graphic Novel come to life than a rock and roll band.
Or a brilliant, inventive, cinematic movie or mini-series about an alternative universe. (Like the disorientating Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.)
Or an imposing work of art/architecture that dominates the skyline of your imagination.
They are Mystery, Literature, History, Fantasy, Imagination, Theatre, (After)Life… condensed into the rock band format for serious-fun and art-kicks.
They will attract the Outsider, the Dreamer, the Intellectual, the Cosmologist, the Desperate, the Lost… initially – until they write a breakthrough hit – their Bohemian Rhapsody – and the wider public embrace them.
They are Doctor Who, Terry Pratchett, Black Mirror, Mervyn Peake, pseudo-science, space archaeologists, time-travelling, gender-fluid, shape-shifters…….. (Ged, what you mean is they are art-school peacocks who dress-up and wear kooky make-up, don’t you?) They are aliens who have migrated from distant planets to live among us and create mischief and a new pan-global omni-sexual religion…. (Stop It!)
Pitchfork Libra is a ritual disguised as a record. It is arch, it is alchemical and it is the next chapter of the band’s musical journey. It begins with the image of the Pitchfork – a weapon raised in revolt, thrust into flesh. Then comes the astrological Libra – the scales, once balanced, now shattered. The cosmos cracked open.
Pitchfork Libra explores the eternal cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth – a serpent devouring its own tail. From the feverish hysteria of the Dancing Plague of 1518, to the esoteric trials of Robert Anton Wilson’s Chapel Perilous, to fragmented psychological states stitched together with sound, Pitchfork Libra is a descent and an invocation. Ever-present throughout the myth-soaked album is the ghost of Jack Parsons – rocket messiah, sex magician, tragic prophet of the in-between. He was a man suspended between earth and moon, science and sorcery, modernity and myth. His presence is a thread that weaves through the chaos, binding the sacred to the profane.
Pitchfork Libra doesn’t rest – it writhes. And it welcomes YOU with open jaws!
(Reviewer wriggles snake-like on his belly in his candle-lit lair trying to loose himself from the makeshift straight-jacket.. so he can carry on evangelizing…)
I just love the imagery and vocabulary ESOP use:
The Pox, bones, beasts, witches, execution (Ten Ton Delirium)
Malicious, pernicious, capricious, vicious (Ossuary Kisses)
Supernature, glossolalia (Zygote)
Apotheosis, soliloquy, paladin (moving sidewards)
Falconer, Ferryman, the grave, the moon, the pond, rainbow, sword (Bring Me Back…)
And the locations the song-lyrics inhabit, in one song alone, they are: battered shopping centres, the ring road, pylons, a dark and starless airfield, a wet Glaswegian graveyard…
A sense of haunted landmarks as they self-summarise in another song
And so many witty, surreal, quoteworthy lyrics and mad rhyme-schemes;
They never paid me what I’m worth so pay me some attention
I am trickster, mischief-maker / Watch me put a wasp in the incubator
Of all the animals I like most / You can’t go wrong with a baby goat
From semen to sepulchre / It’s all brimstone and sulphur / Commencing from the foetus / ‘Til Papa Time defeats us
There are no weak tracks, not a moment wasted. it’s a manic album that doesn’t take a breath yet has such zig-zagging musicality, operatic tunefulness and technical skill combined it leaves you dizzy.
The album opens with the ecstatic, erratic “Ten Ton Delirium”, setting the scene for an intrepid 35 minutes. From then on, the band’s chaotic brand of wonk rock shimmies into new wave, glam, big rock riffs (“Bring Me Back from the Black Beyond”), and more atmospheric territories (“Zygote”, “We’ve All Been Cruel”). Their sound has evolved since their debut album, but there is still that darkness, that madness that is undeniably ESOP.
The science fiction angle is acute when you get to the song that insists…
The Whitechapel fatberg, yes it held a heartbeat…
Thomas Hawtin – the lead vocalist and performer extraordinaire really does inhabit the same kind of cult cultural space, a throne, that has forever been reserved for Tim Curry (as Frankenfurter and beyond) but he seems to have the brainpower of Will Self and the imagination of Charlie Brooker too.
Tom Hackwell, guitar, Moog, backing vocals and production is probably a genius too. Having been compared to McGeoch he seems to replicate and adapt the mans sounds at will, just to prove he can, as well as adding a dozen new ideas, tones and chord shapeshifting. Or maybe its Sean Jones the other guitarist?
The gleaming production (and/or musical arrangement) is very like The Correct Use of Soap in that it’s slick, funky, sharp, smooth, rocks gently and intricately rather than with too much bombast.
Both departed and new bass-players Julian and Louise are credited on the album, but the overall sound stays the same. Jake Cheesman (whose surname always makes me smile Gromit) is a great drummer who gives the band their nimbleness and flexibility.
My previous comparisons to obscure greats like Punishment of Luxury and Virgin Prunes are redundant. On album number two ESOP have genuinely gone up a gear in every way conceivable – other than business-led commerciality. They have honed their uniqueness into their own ebullient and magical sound.
I could go on (and on and on…) about how magnifique Pitchfork Libra is… but now is the time for YOU to listen and be captured, captivated and bewitched by its power, majesty, wit, verve and utter magnificence.
(Goes for a lie-down)
PITCHFORK LIBRA TOUR 2025
17/10 – Bristol, UK – Rough Trade (Album release show)
24/10 – Tourcoing, FR – Le Grand Mix
25/10 – Troyes, FR – Festival Off Off Off
28/10 – Reims, FR – La Cartonnerie
30/10 – Milano, IT – Arci Bellezza
31/10 – Sion, CH – Point 11
01/11 – Ravenna, IT – Bronson
02/11 – Zagreb, HR – Tvornica Kulture
04/11 – Kusel, DE – Kulturzentrum Kinett
03/12 – Edinburgh, UK – Sneaky Pete’s
04/12 – Manchester, UK – The Castle
05/12 – Birmingham, UK – Sunflower Lounge
06/12 – London, UK – The Waiting Room
All words Ged Babey with Press Release content in italics.
Erotic Secrets of Pompeii LTW/GB Archive
Louder Than War tips for 2024 One to Watch Dec 2023
Utterly Rudderless Single
Mondo Maleficum Album Review
Live May 2024
The Hand That Did The Deed Single/ Video Sept 2024
A Plea From Louder Than War
Louder Than War is run by a small but dedicated independent team, and we rely on the small amount of money we generate to keep the site running smoothly. Any money we do get is not lining the pockets of oligarchs or mad-cap billionaires dictating what our journalists are allowed to think and write, or hungry shareholders. We know times are tough, and we want to continue bringing you news on the most interesting releases, the latest gigs and anything else that tickles our fancy. We are not driven by profit, just pure enthusiasm for a scene that each and every one of us is passionate about.
To us, music and culture are eveything, without them, our very souls shrivel and die. We do not charge artists for the exposure we give them and to many, what we do is absolutely vital. Subscribing to one of our paid tiers takes just a minute, and each sign-up makes a huge impact, helping to keep the flame of independent music burning! Please click the button below to help.
John Robb – Editor in Chief
Leave a Reply