Froggy & The Ringes – Ringe Rock Pond Scum

By RingMaster Review on June 25, 2022 • ( 0 )

Can it really be almost two years since we joined the Batrachian chorus of FROGGY & THE RINGES courtesy of the SOFT ‘G’ 7” EP? The debut from the UK rockers has never been far from our ‘for pleasure’ playlist so in a way thoughts and enjoyment were too busy to hanker for a debut album from the rural swamp stompers. But now on the near horizon and closing in, yes an instinctive want for more of the same was indeed laying there and now truly switched on by a release which not only gives more of the same but so much more.

Unleashing feral garage punk with a just as rapacious appetite for unfiltered rock ‘n’ roll, gonzo synth punk and the virulent shenanigans of punk infused garage rock, Ringe Rock Pond Scum is a blistering invasion of the senses, a hungry and sweaty slab of ferocious goodness which is pure incitement from start to finish. Equally though, within that untamed trespass, band and album provoke the imagination with infernal catchiness, unpredictable enterprise and melodic mischief. That first EP was no light weight in such manipulation and craft either but has to bow to the exploits of Ringe Rock Pond Scum.

The album will have you violently grinning and bouncing, roaring and raising plenty of irritable digits but equally feasting on the rhythmic dexterity of bassist Ranchard Ringe and drummer Ringe-O Starr. Similarly the guitar of Calaudio Winkelf-Ringe cunningly abuses and incites as the keys of Sir Ringe-O-Lot infests and seduces to matching heights, it all led by the predacious and rebel rousing antics of vocalist Froggy; his attack and devilment unmistakably familiar and ever welcomed.

Together and from the first breath of the release, the band rips into the listener; Ringe Rock erupts with arrogance in its rapacious breath, inciting and harassing with every riff as rhythms and keys spin flirtation. With clamorous rascality it bullies and harasses for a glorious commotion loaded start to the release which only continues as Pond Scum unleashed its own fracas of sound and dispute. Discord equally grips the addiction stoking persuasion, immediately swamping the senses before the rock ‘n’ roll tumult and creative ravening soon orchestrated our offering of tempestuous participation, warped new wave nurtured keys escalating the psychotic mayhem.

Good Livin’ follows, sauntering in amid the flowery weaves of keys. The song is accuser and embracer of life in equal measure; noisy advice to contemplate and eventually drool over as Sir Ringe-O-Lot’s keys reveal a Dave Greenfield enterprise while Being Louche Is Not A Crime revels in rakish garage rock inclinations, inflaming ears like a hellacious punk bred King Salami and the Cumberland Three.

Similarly as those before it, One Chord Frog greedily tunnelled beneath the skin with one intention, to devour ears with infernal riff nagging but also aligned it to the deception of warped keys which infested subsequent deranged calms carrying vocal taunting, moments especially keeping the imagination busy before the track rushed the senses in sonic and rhythmic tumult again.

Growin’ Grapes had face and ear muscles working keenly next, its extensive introduction come sermon wonderful insanity alone but just the teaser for the unbridled onrush the track uncages with keys and guitar again infiltrating the tempest with melodic and sonic daring before the following Fuck You, Kermit! provokes the outcry we have all bred inside for decades, if going further by challenging him to prove his froghood with exasperated encouragement, of which we needed little as we disturbed the neighbourhood through participation in one irresistible chorus.

Equally Do The Frog had us gripped by its manipulations, stomping and ribbiting around the office and streets with garage rock relish and punk rock belligerence, then calming down a touch as Tadpoles strolled in with deranged enterprise and energy sucking virulence. In no time we were again throwing limbs and vocal energy around us, the imagination just as driven by the song’s web of untamed trespass and melodic revelry.

The album is completed by Space Frog, a track with a Scaners hue to its gonzo punk exploration towards cosmic destinations. It is slow more even tempered, urgency wise, than those before it yet an infestation of noise and creativity as direct, rabid and ravenous as those same pleasures and as irresistible.

So just under two years ago FROGGY & THE RINGES had us drooling and acclaiming, now with Ringe Rock Pond Scum…oh just pass us a mop and bucket.

Ringe Rock Pond Scum is released July 1^st via Kibou Records (UK) and Amok Records (Germany); available on vinyl with 200 Black and 100 Green though it seems the latter has already sold out in pre-orders and also digitally @ https://kibourecords.bandcamp.com/album/ringe-rock-pond-scum

FROGGY & THE RINGES are also making an extremely rare live appearance in September, at Wotsit Called Fest in Hastings, UK. Tickets @ https://www.toxicwotsit.co.uk/products/wotsit-called-fest-2021-ticket