Fudge Tunnel were among the few British bands of the 1990s to have absorbed the lesson of Seattle grunge. Initially influenced by Motrhead, guitarist Alex Newports band increasingly moved toward the brutal, dense, and dark sound of groups such as Helmet and Big Black, filtered through the hard-rock sensibility of Soundgarden.
Their reputation rests on the tracks released at the turn of the decade on the EPs Fudge Tunnel (Pig, 1989) and The Sweet Sound Of Excess (Pig, 1990), later compiled on the album Fudgecake (Pigboy, 1992), since the material on the albums Hate Songs In E Minor (Earache, 1991), still brutally submerged under layers of distortion, and Creep Diets (Earache, 1993), much more faithful to heavy metal tradition, is clearly derivative.
The first EP contains slashing hardcore tracks such as Sex Mammoth and thrash epileptic fits like Leprosy; the standout tracks of the second (less brutal and more complex) release are Best Friend's Wife and Like Jeff, marked by stormy syncopations and raucous screaming in the tradition of Fugazi and Bad Brains, as well as more metallic sonorities.
After a project (Nailbomb) with Max Cavalera of Sepultura, Newport returned to Fudge Tunnel, and with Complicated Futility Of Ignorance (Earache, 1994) significantly improved the situation. The sound is in fact more ferocious than ever, from the knockout one-two of the opening tracks Random Acts of Cruelty and The Joy of Irony, but perhaps the most original moments come in the creeping violence of Find Your Fortune and Backed Down.
In A Word (Earache, 1995) is a collection of rare, live, and more or less unreleased material.
Alex Newport returned after a long hiatus with
Theory Of Ruin's
Counterculture Nosebleed (Escape Artist, 2002), a power-trio
work-out.
