<< Back To Press VOX: Heartworm, October 1995 They've been Dublin's best (and most reticent) band for years, but with Heartworm, Whipping Boy suddenly sound like potential world -beaters.Their last album, Submarine, on Warners offshoot Liquid was a major disappointment, proving only that the band possessed and loved some early Sonic Youth albums. Now, though, they sound like a different band, they sound like......Whipping Boy. This is a remarkably wordy album, with singer Fearghal McKee entering spiritedly into the role of Irish literary guru, gushing words like he has swallowed a hardback copy of Finnegan's Wake, but what makes Heartworm special is the dispassionate wisdom of his lyrics. Think of Nick Cave and his bitterness at a Catholic education and you'll get some idea of what's eating McKee.But unlike old Nick, he doesn't sound haunted-there's a distance between McKee's delivery and his words that at times, is just plain scary. "We don't need nobody else" is an all too realistic account of domestic violence and it's going to draw a lot of flak when it's released as the LP's second single."I hit you for the first time today...That really hurt you said, Yeah and you thought you knew me". This is a social commentary rather than a condemnation. He's saying shit happens. The albums first single,"Twinkle", meanwhile is bright sounding enough to be a love song, but there's a brooding air maintained, and the line "she's the air I breath, not to pure for me" points to a considered rather than considerate viewpoint. Heartworm is very hard going but not very hard work.You won't jump around to anything here, but it has an extraordinary capacity to surprise. And on "Blinded" and the heart-warming "When we were young",they have the charm to worm their way into the public's hearts and minds. McKee is a huge star in the making. Whipping Boy are-wait for it -the biggest thing out of Dublin since U2, and Heartworm is an astonishingly impressive work. Quite simply, one of the albums of the year. Leo Findlay 8/10