Originally from Grafton but now based in Melbourne, Joe Terror is the project of creative machine Jayden Hebbard, who you may recognise from local garage rock acts The Stained Daisies and Tug. Somehow between playing in his multiple bands, he’s found the time to put together a new album, just six months after the release of An Urgent Release. However, where the previous album was a journey through clever pop-rock, with ear-worming hooks and undeniable charm, Stinky Soul is a bit more of a wild ride that finds Joe Terror sinking his teeth into something a bit more volatile.

Album opener and first single ‘Teething’ immediately sets the tone for what’s to come - held down with a bluesy groove and a slinky bassline, the instrumentation is merely a backdrop for Jayden to lay his enigmatic vocals on top of, before a frenzied guitar wrestles control of the track from him and lets everything fall apart. There’s a raw immediacy to the opener which permeates across the entire album, even more so on the title trick which follows up with its sprawling guitars, stomping backbeat and erratic mood swings.

The album continues on in an equally unpredictable way. Across the tracks, Joe Terror bounces from dirty sleaze-funk on 'The Weekend’ to weirdo psych on ‘Glam Rock World, Rock 'n Roll Time’, through to the country-tinged ‘No More Maybe’s’ and the instrumental ‘My Mind Before Yesterday’s Evening Nap’, a track that wouldn’t feel out of place on a horror-movie soundtrack.

However, what holds Stinky Soul together is that at the core of each of the track’s is a ferociously versatile musician, who’s not afraid to take risks - if anything, it almost seems like the further he journeys down the rabbit hole, the more comfortable he is. And as the final chorus of closing track ‘The Stars They’ve Studied’ drones out with the its eerie harmonies and the subdued chaos of the instrumentation, we’re only left excitedly wondering where Joe Terror might take us next.