Mighty Flames - Metalik Funk Band LP
The Mighty Flames were a crack bunch of Cameroonian musicians, drawn to Nigeria by the heavy funk sounds booming across the border like musical moths. For a short time in the late sentries they ‘owned’ Port Harcourt, destroying dancefloors with an incendiary sound that burned so heavily that it was phosphorescent. Metalik Funk Band is the band at their most deadly. Willy ‘Pazz’ Nfor is on bass, Nfrackie ‘Jazz’ Song on synth, Didi Lead on lead guitar, Emma ‘Wah Wah’ Baloka on rhythm and Stormy ‘Booga’ Jimmy on percussion. There is not a single dud track. ‘Music Is The Answer’ is a psychedelic head spin. ‘Funky Child’ is an irresistible call to the dancefloor. And I guarantee you’ll need a good lie down after listening to ‘Search Out! Watch Out!’. Sadly, things did not end well for the Mighty Flames. Their manager was a tyrant and when they tried to escape to Lagos with all the band’s gear he promptly had then arrested. Metallik Funk Band was their last album, but what a way to go out: with an incendiary batch of Afro Funk monsters that need to be in every funk lover’s collection. – Peter Moore