Far from their original teenage hoodlum mandate of twenty years ago, Holocaust are now a slightly loopy, oddly serious smudge or curmudgeon metal, John Mortimer reminding one of Peter Hammill, The Fall or King Crimson in acidic absurdist tone. Whether by choice or by ineptitude, John roughs his art metal up with production values that are grim and midrangey, perfectly suited to his crank voice. Ten tracks on here, and four of them are nut-stops, containing fresh, provocative instrumental nonsense or a few brief words of the same. But the surrounding songs are very cool indeed, especially Big Country-on-thrash opener 'The Collectiv'e, which sets a dark Celtic mood for the album but is a heavy trawl all the same. 'Home From Home' is similarly shocked with obscure new wave leanings, as is 'Neurosis', all adding to a reclusive vibe to the record. A provocative change of pace from all the metal rules, The Courage To Be continues a quest to create loud art that bravely breaks from the band's NWOBHM glory days. I can't rate higher however, because John's voice might put a few off, the production is rough, and the few standard metallic structures on the record are a bit pedestrian, meaning that within my old punk, old prog old metal head, I'm pleased to bolt the door and follow John, while journalistic responsibility dictates that the vast diversity of the metal community out there won't get this, potentially stopped cold by Holocaust's (wonderful) eccentricities.