"Ultimo" was put together in a Melbourne studio over two days in mid-2024 with bassist Boris Sudjovic, Baker, Kim Salmon and Perkins each bringing song ideas. The band, with Charlie Owen on guitar, had just wrapped their tour so were road-hardened.

Things were tried, culling done and rough mixes assembled. Perkins did some post- recording tweaking on his laptop. The overall feel is the thing. This is not the Beasts of Bourbon at their fearsome “Low Road” peak, it’s The Beasts laying down a new batch of songs. It’s a little more home spun, dark and organic.

Reflections on the state of the world are interspersed with observations on the human state, and glints of grim humour shine through. Mortality hovers over these songs (how could it not?) with lines like” Your god is not coming to save us. For I get he never really forgave us" ("The Change").

“Ultimo” sounds like a cohesive album yet is loose and limber at the same time. That’s due to James Baker’s distinctive, behind-the-beat propulsion and Tex’s singular vocal. The Beasts aren’t too far removed from the band that went before them, but they are a different combo and are unique in their own way. Pairing Kim Salmon and Charlie Owen on guitars always made sense and there’s plenty of them on this recording.

“Shoot Me” uncoils on a bed of withering guitar before Tex summons the rhythm section with a curt “Cmon”. It’s some opener. Another snaking guitar line punctuates the thick wall of fuzz as Perkins commands:

Shoot me…into space 
Remember my name…
Cos that’s all that will remaaaaaaaiin

“Some Other Fucking Blues” hovers like a dark presence looking over your shoulder, with pulsating fuzz, acrid slide and Perkins singing about waking up in the boot of someone’s car. It might be these Beasts’ finest moment. “Succubus” drags the band right back to “Sour Mash” days with some fine, multi-tracked Beefheartian babble exchanged by Tex and Kim, while Boris’s bass runs anchor the whole shebang.

Kim Samon takes the mic for a distinctly Surrealistic detour on "Fix It". The firm of Salmon and Owen locks in on a muscular riff here as Boris chows down on a throbbing, scientific bassline "A Special Place" mixes barbs with a note of resigned fatalism, acknowledging departed friends while taking a measure of satisfaction in the certainty of a reunion in a nightclub called Hell.

There were no writing credits with the pre-release copy but "The Ballad of The Battle of Rock N Roll" has to be a James Baker effort. It's a mutant throwback to '70s glam without the bombast and makes for a fine if oddly low key closer. 

If you scored a copy of the "Be Suburban" live EP on The Beasts' last run, you'll know what to expect on the bundled "The Beasts Alive" LP. Culled from both dates on the preceding tour, it's a loose but spirited forage through the participants' scrapbooks and dumpster bins. Completists can rest easy: None of the songs on "Be Suburban" is reprised,

Technically, it's all covers with most of the material from the Beasts of Bourbon songbook, but if that bothers you, you're in the wrong place. As Perkins says in his live patter, when the band formed to play The Southern Cross in Sydney in 1983 it only had two originals (both his) so it's true to the oriignal ethos. "I Need Somebody" lacks the soon-to-be strung-out (again) smolder of Iggy and the Stooges' original, but The Beasts make "Strychnine" all their own (just like the Beasts of Bourbon used to.)

If still you're on the fence, a listen to "I'm So Happy (I Could Cry)" should get the splinters out of your arse: The song staggers to life on the back of Tex's vocal lament and then lurches into a cacophony of weaving, raucous guitars. Likewise, get clobbered by "Hard Work Drivin' Man" or "Hard For You" at stun volume.

Will they tour it? Sit tight and see. Meanwhile, buy the vinyl. They don't make ‘em like The Beasts or the Beasts of Bourbon so let's cherish what we had and still have.

Released on double gatefold vinyl and digitally on December 13, pre-order here.

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