Imagine Misfits meets The Meteors with the salacious touch of Demented Are Go and the thumping might of Grumpynators involved and you get a sense of the treat to be found within The Macabre Tale Of The Harlots Curse. The debut album from British rockers Thee Infecteds is a bloody stomp of garage punk and psychobilly; a slab of rock ‘n’ roll weaving its own distinct cavalcade of horror bred escapades from familiar and fresh creative cadavers in sound and enterprise, and one rather irresistible blood lust.
Hailing from Newcastle, emerging from its dark mausoleums this year, Thee Infecteds draw on inspirations from the likes of Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Hank Williams, Link Wray, Wayne Hancock, Motorhead, The Meteors, Demented Are Go, and The Cramps among many sparks for their own rousing exploits. They are flavours which at times openly shape The Macabre Tale Of The Harlots Curse but only add to its swift attraction and lingering hold on ears and imagination.
Playing like an aural Tales From The Crypt, each song an episode of blood and death shown in a theatre from where exits “all go down”, the album gets down to business after the introduction of Feature Presentation with The Harlots Curse. With a great cavernous air to its atmosphere, the track opens on the steely riff of Anth Bundy’s guitar, it soon joined by the menacing kisses of Sean Sinner’s beats and further riffs alongside the intimidation of upright bass slapped by Ruby Morgue. It is a carnivorous proposal guided by the potent tones of vocalist Howlin’ Jimmy, he not so much a barker but a narrator to your demise at the whim of the song’s curse.
It is a rousing start quickly matched by the strolling swagger of The Razors Edge, the song a mix of catchy hooks and fifties rock ‘n’ roll guitar courted by the already irresistible presence of Morgue’s bass. Each plucked string is a dark conspirator for ears and imagination more than matched by the tangy enterprise of pick on string by Bundy and Jimmy’s straight to the point attack. The track is too brief but an unstoppable appetite pleaser before the adrenaline fuelled Creepy Crawler has its moment of attention swiftly sealed. With a bit of Guana Batz to the song, its stomps around with attitude and creative barbs which soon has hips swinging and feet bouncing, Bundy’s salty grooves additional pleasure as the song blossoms on its repetitive character.
Both Skulls and It’s Them! keep the album in top gear and pleasure unbridled, each embracing an unmistakable Misfits influence woven into their own highly addictive and virulently infectious guises before Intermission allows a momentarily breather for mopping up sweat and ice cream. Eager involvement is a given throughout the album but the pair demand and receive some of the most zealous with the second of the two leaving the body breathless.
Never Go To Heaven is a less boisterous incitement next, at least initially, it’s gentle coaxing all melodic seduction and strolling rhythms as Jimmy romps alongside yet one more riveting bass riff as it heads towards a tenaciously feisty shuffle. The track does not quite find all the sparks which ignite its predecessors yet still has voice and body hooked before moving over for the lusty enticement of Lay That Chainsaw Down. Hooks and riffs are an enticement which enslaves the senses and imagination with ease, all teasing within a rolling canter under the commanding guidance of Sinner.
The thumping beats and melodic lures of Happy Jack are also an entanglement impossible to throw off, unbreakable chains further provided by the delicious throb of bass while its thick success is only eclipsed by that of Your Love Makes Me Itch, a song which is pure slavery as its nagging bass rhythms and repetitious hooks play with and seduce the imagination. The song is a web of slimline strands of barb littered lines from all concerned, and a united weave which is as rich and thick in temptation as anything on this and many other genre similar encounters in recent times.
The dirty, dark, and destructive romance of True Love Dies brings the album to a close; a Gene Vincent meets P. Paul Fenech flirtation which just hits the spot dead centre before it is time to make for the Exit and the inevitable journey.
With a real lust for good psychobilly/horror rock incitements here our wants are demanding. The Macabre Tale Of The Harlots Curse delivers on virtually every level whilst providing one seriously rousing and enjoyable excuse to unleash the blood lust.
The Macabre Tale Of The Harlots Curse is out now and available @ https://theeinfecteds.bandcamp.com/album/the-macabre-tale-of-the-harlots-curse
https://www.facebook.com/theeinfecteds/
Pete RingMaster 13/10/2016
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