Release Date: September 14th 2026. Record Label: Spaceflight Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals - Tracklist
1.Season Of The Flame 05:09
2.Love Cult (Xmas) 04:28
3.Between The Bodies 04:51
4.Mother Leeds 06:03
5.New Hallelujah For The Damned 03:54
6.Love Look This Way 04:52
7.Mystery Babylon 04:33
8.Dillinger's Requiem 01:07
9.Other Girls 04:33
Members
Ian Graham – Guitar and Vocals
Lisa Alley – Bass and Vocals
Jason Sullivan – Drums
Review
Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metallers The Well make a magnificent return with their new album ...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals which is their first record in six years. The band have always been known for their non-linear and cerebral approach to creating music and this record is no different but also perhaps being their most conventional in quite some time. The lyrics and vocals are wickedly subversive, touching upon both social and philosophical themes which gives the whole experience a trippy existence compared to their previous records.
The Well add a Space Rock objective to their music which allows the whole thing to be quite forward thinking but never losing focus of this grounded melodic rhythm the project within the opening stages of the excellent opening track Season Of The Flame. The music is made of different progressive sound structures with areas of Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Psych, Grunge and Alt Metal that is quite familiar but breathtakingly original at times.
...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals never allows The Well to play it safe with some fuzz drenched guitars allowing Lisa Alley (Bass) and Jason Sullivan (Drums) to provide some deeply rich COSMIC instrumental passages for Ian Graham (Guitar) to provide a level of intense Sludge Rock surroundings.
The Well comment on the true important things going on in the world though also highlighting are too busy consumed with mundane things such as pop culture and social media that’s told within their superbly intelligent lyrics they’ve written for the album. Sometimes the record feels like a damning indictment of humanity in today’s modern age and I wholeheartedly agree with the message being projected here. Though, I could be looking way too much into things and coming up with a completely different message that the record actually holds.
Anyway, back to business. This record sees The Well create a wealth of different Psychedelic melodies and aggressive Sludge/Stoner Metal sounds that have a gloomy Occult and Proto-Metal pretence appearing. It’s quite hard to describe but it’s a method of music The Well have applied into their music on previous records. There’s some great musical influences that can be heard like BORIS, The Melvins and The Smashing Pumpkins but this is still The Well showing what they do so well.
The best parts of the record appear when The Well operate with a less is more approach and straightforward riff based delivery where the music becomes more restrained and fully contained. The mood is quite uplifting in parts before The Well once more explodes into a loud wall of pure Psychedelic noise. Sludgy rhythms dominate the musical landscape with fractured and disjointed Stoner Metal surroundings working superbly well with the great vocals delivered by Ian Graham and Lisa Alley.
Other standout tracks on the album are: Between The Bodies, Love Look This Way, Mystery Babylon and Other Girls.
The later stages of ...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals sees The Well experimenting with surreal Ambient themes and sludgy Post-Rock soundscapes. There’s also a tough vocal exterior that appears out of nowhere which gives The Well a highly confrontational style which ultimately succeeds on every level that allows the album to end in quite a highly convincing fashion and leave you begging for more great music when everything is said and done.
...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals is a record that demands multiple listens to understand the whole message The Well have created with this album. The production values are off the scale with this being the best record The Well have produced to date. It can be quite challenging to listen to at times but the sheer volume of amazing grooves throughout make the whole journey worthwhile.
This is an incredible record and no doubt that will be lauded as one of the most essential records to own this year alone.
Words by Steve Howe
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