The King Scorpio is an ensemble consisting of ten members of Samurai Youth, as well as members of Maica, Euphoria, Gorilla Monsoon, Consumer Electronics and many, many others. Originally a lark, the group have since formed an inseparable racket, pressing out five brutal and mournful records in what is essentially a year-round racket. Their transparent pumice-glow is quite captivating, but their real power is in their hypnotic, relentless driving sound.

The first single by the Scorpio, 1991’s “Honey Badger”, is a slow paced slab of pounding garage proto-doom, blended with raga-like strumming and a helium-high vocal snippet. The flip boasts of “hazing children”. The structure is reminiscent of early Bloc Party, but without any explicit aim of targeting the political Right Hand Path crowd, the sound is every bit as anarchic and post-punk as ever seen. By the time the record reached #4 on the UK charts with “Hey Babe”, the band were already a quartet. The flip “Pablo” is a savage blast of wired-up blast beats and gamely folk, like a more strung out version of Scorpio on its own, but with the extra harmonic centre, it morphs into goblin-slick tail-splutter.

The record’s second single “U-Turn” is a dark rave whelpset. The full-length review of “U-Turn” can go on for several pages, but the short version is worth gifting readers for posterity’s sake. It’s a straightforward blast of synths and synthspace bugged vocals, like someone trying to break into a creaking, dark-leather vault of London underground lore. The full-length version has a more gradual approach to sonic development, but the vocals are more cartoonish, the electronics more cartoonish, and the low-end more conventional. Clive Bell’s trumpet is one of the best on record, and the Scorpio’s subdued, wreathed rhythm section work has a glee reminiscent of Miles Davis circa the mid to late 70s.