“Imitation is the sincerest flattery” – so said Charles Caleb Colton, an eccentric old buzzard from the early 1800s.  “Copying is cheating!” – so said my French teacher, a wizened old bird from the mid 1990s. So where do Huddersfield five-piece Nex and their second album, “A Clockwork Heart”, fit into this little syntactic equation then?  Well, to put it plainly, they sound like Faith No More. But are they imitators or plagiarists?

It only takes about fifty seconds into this, their second album for Rising Records since their 2002 debut, and it soon becomes obvious that Nex are going to be playing to their strengths – vocalist Ed Dickinson just omitting the words “tonight Matthew, I’m going to be Mike Patton” before sounding like, well, Mike Patton!  He spits, growls and croons his way through “The Revenge” as if suffering some kind of Jekyll & Hyde, split-personality disorder. The other band members don’t just make up the numbers, regularly providing a metal male voice choir over the unrelenting thirteen tracks. The energy of Nex could power a small third world country for a year! 

Soon though, the obvious comparisons are just “oh-isn’t-that-interesting” moments, as “Phantoms” heralds Danny Elfman-esque operatic, meanderings, “Tinkerbell” and new single “Dansylvania” soar with their strings and synth leaving you breathless before the halfway mark. There is brief respite on “Ashes & Embers” which layers lilting vocals over subtle piano and strings, but you get the impression that Nex can’t wait to wrap it up after two minutes due to the amount of pent-up energy they have left for the last four tracks, with “At Peace” proving to be a fitting closer and well worth the wait.

Nex could have picked considerably worse points of reference, and with a FNM reunion about as likely as a Heather Mills vow of silence, it would be criminal if “A Clockwork Heart” did not garner Nex new fans, and scandalous if it was dismissed as a rip-off. 

Let us know your views on A Clockwork Heart

Track Listing

In Pieces
The Revenge
The Lucky Ones
Tinkerbell
Witch Hunting
Phantoms
Dansylvania
Good Evening
Ashes & Embers (More Pieces)
Before The Storm
Behind The Stars
We All Went Out To Sea
At Peace

Line Up

Ed Dickinson - Vocals/Synth
Chris Kiernan - Guitar/Vocals
The Professional - Bass/Vocals/Piano
Mike Garlick - Drums