Whipping Boy: Heartworm – Irish masterpiece has lost none of its jagged beauty

The  25th birthday honours for Whipping Boy’s second album, first released in 1995, were denied by Covid-19, but thanks to a humdinger of a reissue programme (by UK-based Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer Pete Paphides), Heartworm’s obvious pleasures will hopefully be heard by more than just beard-twirling aficionados and people of a certain age.

It deserves to be, that’s for sure, because – unusually for an album of its vintage – Heartworm sounds as current as any contemporary alt-rock record you care to mention. There isn’t a hair out of place, the musical force hasn’t lost a jot of its intensity, and, as the years have passed andthe band haven’t (thankfully) been mining the nostalgia gig circuit, the lyrics and their delivery have taken on a twisted, distanced logic of their own.

From “I hit you for the first time today, I didn’t mean it … ‘That really hurt,’ you said. Yeah – and you thought you knew me” (We Don’t Need Nobody Else) to “It has come to my attention that over the past year and a half I have acquired a condition known as acute paranoid schizophrenia ... ” (A Natural), lead singer Ferghal McKee’s words run in parallel with exceptional high-anxiety sonic peaks and troughs.

A landmark album in Irish rock music returns.