The Creeping Ivies – Ghost World

Taking senses and imagination on another psyche ripping helter skelter of raw and sonically sculpted rock ‘n’ roll, Scottish duo The Creeping Ivies unveil their second album Ghost World and prove themselves yet again to be one of the most exciting provocateurs of primal incitement. The new full-length from the band is a riotous seduction of garage punk and naked rock ‘n’ roll with plenty of spices from psychobilly to punk rock. It also sees the band at its most potent and insatiably virulent yet, the release loaded with deliciously caustic and masterfully magnetic, to steal from the title of one of their earlier songs, buzzbombs.

The Creeping Ivies consists of Becca Bomb providing piercing, coarsely sirenesque vocals and raw sonic guitar vivacity and Duncan Destruction who brings heavy thumping, rapaciously intruding beats to the thrilling equation. Their union is a simultaneously primitive and precisely sculpted enslaving of the senses, one which from day one intrigued and wildly enthralled. First release the Rock N Roll Party EP in 2011 stirred up attention and emotions with its synapse searing acidity and voracious rioting, that an ever present trait expanding with greater potency on the following Ghost Train EP and debut album Stay Wild, both in 2012. Inciting audiences just as dramatically with their live performances, which has seen them share a stage with the likes of  Viv Albertine of The Slits and Vic Godard & Subway Sect, the stature of The Creeping Ivies has increased constantly within the underground scene, their sound recalling many influences but undeniably unique to them. Last November the release of the double A-sided single What Would Joey Ramone Do? / Ramona Wolf teased and tempted as the band showed a continuing to evolve invention to their sonic exploits and imagination. It certainly led to the anticipation and expectations of their next album to intensify. The two tracks hinted at the possible magnificence of Ghost World but it is fair to say that its haunting intrusive delights have emerged as a far greater and dangerous triumph than hoped.

The Dundee pair open up the adventure with the album’s title track. Instantly a haunted caress of guitar glances over ears with a caustic kiss in tow as well as a rub of riffs and the joining tub thumping beats of Duncan. Immediately enticing in its noir lit breath and grazing ambience, the track pulsates as it worms its way under the skin laying irresistible bait for the entrance of Becca’s vocals. As ever her voice holds a definite Wanda Jackson meets Siouxsie Sioux texture and magnetism to it, intensity in her delivery searing flesh and air as she and the song hit their stride. With an addiction spawning groove and the delicious occasional blaze of harmonica from guest Homesick Aldo, the track takes little time to secure full submission for its tempting whilst showing the evolution in sound and songwriting maturity poised to consume the senses  in hand with the expected sonic feverishness of the band.

The following entangling chords of The Bridge provide an instant variation to the toxicity of the album; its opening fifties bred melodic teasing charming the listener before thrusting sinew packed beats and the wonderfully torrid vocal tones of Bomb into the appealing recipe. The hook which drew the first spark of ardour as the song started continues to vein the stomp whilst a resonating shimmer to the sound engulfs and exhilarates the senses. As with all their songs, the premise is uncomplicated and minimalistic but always thick in presence and invention leading to fully textured and imposing encounters.

The intimidating shadows of The Creeps consumes attention next, their threat and imposing provocation sizeable but defused by an excellent revelry of keys, vocal wails, and the urgent dance of hooks and harmonies. Short, sweet, and irresistible, the song is then put in its appealing place by Love Kills, a brilliant blend of sixties pop, garage punk, and rockabilly energy. Imagine The Shangri-Las and The Cramps in a saucy romantic triangle with Australian band Valentiine and you have the brilliant Love Kills. The track sways and romps with revelry and mischievousness to cast a perfect raw pop song on the passions.

Ramona Wolf just sounds better with each encounter since its single release last November. It’s almost spatial opening ambience paves the way for the vocal seduction of Becca to spread a temptress like devilry, a sonic medusa with a delivery writhing with searing harmonies and enslaving qualities. Musically the song is a repetitive narrative, punchy beats and scalding guitar probing and grazing respectively with singular intent beneath the harsh atmosphere of the tale. It is also quite glorious as is the next up Dream Baby Dream. Providing irrepressible flirting from the sax of Andrew Pattie within its scintillating fifties pop ravaging and punk seeded ravishing, the song stomps over and challenges the senses for another unruly treat, Bo Diddley meets Helen Shapiro at the home of The Trashmen.

Both Trippin’ Out and Haunted High School finger the passions in their individual ways next, the first a heart rapping rampage of jabbing beats and scarring riffs skirting the sinister drama. It is a tale of ghostly enterprise and inescapable rapacious shadows with a heartbeat which resonates through the bone and core of the evocative tale whilst melodic acidity and vocal colouring courts its intent. The excellent fierce smouldering is soon exceeded by What Would Joey Ramone Do?, a song which sculpts a raising of the spirits of Gene Vincent and Lux Interior with that of the song’s namesake. The track provides all you expect and much more, the Cochran/ Poison Ivy Rorschach like mix of guitar sound with the impossible contagious punk stomp of the song an epidemic for the passions.

Arguably the band saves the best till last, though every listen offers a different favourite. Forever Leather fuses sixties girl pop with a raw voracity, the song like the punk infected offspring of The Crystals and The Stooges with a heady dose of Siouxsie menace. It is a scintillating end to an outstanding album. The Creeping Ivies continue to impress as they evolve and push their boundaries, doing so without losing any of the elements which made them an unbridled addiction certainly for us since their early days. Whether their sound will ever find the major spotlight it deserves is impossible to say, such its uniqueness and undiluted rawness, but it will definitely recruit the most passionate and feverish passions from an increasingly growing legion of fans we suggest, it just needs the opportunity to make that infectious strike.

http://thecreepingivies.com/

http://thecreepingivies.bandcamp.com/

10/10

RingMaster 24/03/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Calabrese – Born with a Scorpion’s Touch

 

    Calabrese has continued to steal the passions of psychobillies and horror punks worldwide since stepping forward in 2003. Album after album, song after song, show after show, they have been a persistent magnet for those infected by their distinct sound and riotous b-movie inspired presence, and we stand amongst the legion infected. So it was with relish we dived into the band’s fifth album Born with a Scorpion’s Touch which receives its UK uncaging this month. Each of the band’s previous albums has impressed and pushed the band’s adventure but with the new contagion, the trio of blood brothers, Bobby, Davey, and Jimmy Calabrese has unlocked a maturity and exploratory enterprise which opens up a new chapter for the band in songwriting and presence. The trademark Calabrese sound is still the potent lure but it is graced and veined with a greater expanse of styles and ingenuity to create quite possibly the pinnacle of the band’s exploits to date.

     The band has always built their sound on the influential breaths of bands such as The Misfits, Black Flag, Samhain, The Damned, Black Sabbath, Danzig, and Ramones, and there is certainly no deviation from that potent well upon Born with a Scorpion’s Touch either but it is infused with a rich incitement of varied metallic and heavy rock essences within their individual sound. It emerges from this dramatic brew as an enthralling and unpredictable encounter, one which continues to make Calabrese a major force and provocation in underground rock ‘n’ roll. Now though they might just become a well-known incitement for world attention thanks to Born with a Scorpion’s Touch.

    Released via Spookshow Records, the album opens with the brief American Rebel Death Riders, a primarily instrumental track which fires up the energy of album and listener with its mix of groove and thrash metal within a juggernaut of rock ‘n’ roll voraciousness. The track rampages down the ears highway igniting imagination and emotions before departing for the following title track. From the first of expected film samples which has always coloured the band’s releases, a ravenous groove breaks free from within a blaze of riffs and thumping rhythms. It is irresistible toxic bait from which the band swings their hooks and infectious chorus to predictably irresistible effect. It is fair to say there is not many bands who can breed the virulence to their barbs and calls as the Phoenix threesome and no chance that the band will lose their lethal touch, as proven by the second track. Again there is a broader hard rock stroke to the song without removing itself from the masterful walls of psychobilly and horror rock.

     I Wanna Be a Vigilante continues the impressive start, its opening wind swept beach reminding a little of the classic Shangri-las’ song, is soon welcoming the croon of Bobby and Jimmy’s vocals and an emotively honed blaze of melodic punk spawned pop balladry with a definite Ramones like aspect to its expanding walls and lures. There is also an element which reminds of The Damned, a gothic glaze that only adds to the depths of the track’s drama. From its commanding presence the snarling bass of Jimmy welcomes in the next up At Night I Am the Warmest, a track which launches at the ears with a feverish appetite and energy once into its full charge. The rhythms from Davey thump and pummel with intimidation whilst grooves and hooks engage and seduce the senses, all held under the rein of the excellent vocal persuasion singularly and dually of Bobby and Jimmy. As epidemically commanding as a voracious fever, the track leaves appetite and emotions aflame before they are taken on another inflammatory ride by the sonic surges and hunger of Loner at Heart. The track burns and sears the sense with a predatory gait and intensity to its antagonism but tempers it with a delicious weave of melodic and addiction forging enterprise.

     Both Mindwarp and Danger leave lingering fingerprints on passions and memory, the first an almost brawling stomp of rock pop with horror rock provocation and its successor a rhythmically menacing encounter courted by sonic beauty and a cache of insidiously compelling barbed grooves and anthemic toxins. It is a brilliant trap living up to its name with ease. Its might is as good as matched by the tarmac smelling heat of Ride with the Living Dead, the song just another which sparks imagery and creative thoughts as powerfully as it does the ardour which only increases its rapture for the release.

    Only the Dead Know My Name moves in on the imagination next, another ambient setting the veil for a track which seduces with more swerves and curvy temptations than a lap dance and just as unhealthily captivating as reality fades away once up against the claws and grip of the song. It is a stylish and impossibly alluring dance with riffs and hooks instinctive protagonists to give full submission to, as are those unleashed by the brilliant I Ride Alone, though brilliance can be draped over every song on this exceptional inspiration as a trait. As with all the songs, there is a wider, richer colour and fermentation to the band’s songwriting and sound which simultaneously feeds all wants and desires for a Calabrese release whilst exceeding those needs with even greater challenging adventure.

   Closing with the rigorously catchy There’s an Evil Inside, a more singularly rockabilly cast treat, Born with a Scorpion’s Touch is a magnificent slab of resourceful and inventive rock ‘n’ roll, one unafraid to push its and the band’s formerly perceived boundaries, though they have never stood still in pressuring limits to be fair. We suggested that the album was possibly the pinnacle of the band’s creativity until now, listening to it again as this is written let us amend that by omitting possibly.

http://www.calabreserock.com/

10/10

RingMaster 17/03/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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The Long Tall Texans – The Devil Made Us Do It

     To create rock ‘n’ roll alchemy as scintillating and fresh as this you just have to suspect that the horned one did have a hand in its breeding as the title of this voracious riot suggests. The Devil Made Us Do It declare The Long Tall Texans on their return after eight years with a new album, but whatever part he had in its creation and the type of dues met all credit and ardour goes to the Brighton band who after two and a half decades still stand mighty in creating essential blistering rock n roll.

      Jammed to the rafters with predominantly Garry Castleman penned songs brought to insatiable life and realism by brother and guitarist Matt, drummer Theo, and vocalist/slap bassist Mark Carew ( also of The Hotknives), The Devil Made Us Do It rampages over and with the passions in a thoroughly captivating and enthrallingly expansive manner. It is a feisty merger of rockabilly, psychobilly, punk, and country twisted in one unique and impossibly contagious riot of rock ‘n’ roll. It has to be said that The Long Tall Texans has been doing this for ages, since day one to be fair, but their thirteen track stomp fest undoubtedly is their finest slab of devilry in a long time. Produced and engineered by Mark Roberts at Empora Recordings and mastered by Tim Rowkins, it is the first essential blaze of rock ‘n roll in 2014, a fire you suspect which will still be heading the field in this year’s twilight moments.

      The album turns the ignition for the ride ahead with the instrumental Taxi, a flaming climate of melodic heat in a western environment which is more sunset than sunrise and a wholly addictive start to the album. With a breath of surf rock to its smouldering temptation it makes way for the rascality of Girlfriend, a contagion clad stroll of sonic grooves and irrepressible hooks wrapped by a blend of rockabilly soaked in fifties irresistibility and just a little salacious enticement. The song requests rather than demands attention and the listener’s vocal assistance but the outcome is the same, full submission to its call.

   The cantering psychobilly charge of Kamikaze Killer is the band recalling its early days in many ways, a rapacious anthemic temptation of a song which again refuses to take no for an answer in its request on emotions and limbs. A glorious guitar sculpted blaze only adds thicker allurement to the track before the western swung Kill Me saunters in and seduces the ears all over again in its own individual enrapturing style. Four tracks in and every song on the album has been of unique character and presence to each other but uniformal in their efficiency in securing the fullest allegiance to their rock ‘n’ roll driven desires and nothing changes across the rest of the release.

    The stalking rabidity of Sex, Beer & Psychobilly chews on the senses next whilst simultaneously seducing them with grooves and riffs which demand a returning lust for their teasing. The guitar of Matt conjures a weave of addiction forging lures around flumes of melodic acidity; it is pure sonic manna and with the thumping beats of Theo caging recipient and song within the predatory sway of Carew’s irrepressible slapping, the song is another peak in the mountainous range of The Devil Made Us Do It.

     The pop lit Terry and the following riveting Let Me Go powers through the ears with a punkabilly urgency and growl which in the case of the first reminds of Australians Living End whilst the cowpunk spiced second of the pair offers an evolving roam through magnetically rich and varied flavours of rockabilly. For a great many the band deservedly is up there with the legends such as The Meteors, Demented Are Go, Batmobile, Stray Cats etc. and these songs alone prove to newcomers just why, whilst the album simply puts in stone the fact that The Long Tall Texans are masters now and then of raucous and mercilessly virulent rockabilly in all its off shooting guises.

     The excellent I Hate Myself again ventures into more punk based alchemy whilst its successors, the ridiculously addictive Covered In Sin and the country seeded What Part Of Fuck Off Don’t You Understand?, exploit the established rampant appetite for the whole release with their own epidemic of sonic inducements. The first of this pair is the stealer of top honours on the song, the dual vocal styling as potently compelling as the ravishing spree of musical toxicity led by riffs and hooks carrying more barbs than a jigsaw. Its companion is an argumentative encounter lyrically and a taunting slice of country rock musically veined with spices of country swing alongside tasty rhythm and blues additives, it and its predecessor continuing the extensive variation of the release and craft in songwriting impressively.

    The outstanding I Fell In Love With A Zombie and the simply exceptional I Used To Feel Funny provide more rigorously stimulating slabs of prime rockabilly and danger drenched psychobilly respectively, though as always it is just half of the story as numerous flavours stoke up the fires within the songs and the now over fed but still greedy emotions receiving them. The closing Feels Like Ice brings it all to a towering conclusion with a sensational heavily weighted brawl of intensive psychobilly scored with rockabilly lunacy and glam rock wantonness. If The Sweet were rockabilly you suspect they would have sounded like this hellacious bone rattling stamping provided by the album’s finale. Listening to it again as this is written maybe that best track decision is still under review after all.

     The Sunny Bastards released The Devil Made Us Do It is quite simply one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll albums of the past decade with little more to be added except to say that The Long Tall Texans still makes  the majority of bands, rockabilly or psychobilly sound like mere novices.

Check on https://www.facebook.com/groups/196671022357 to keep up with news of band and releases.

10/10

RingMaster 14/01/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Straight 8s – Girl Trouble

With the uncanny ability to turn every day and mood into a riotous time, Girl Trouble the new album from US rockabillies Straight 8s, is a virulently infectious and diversely flavoured slice of rock ‘n roll which leaves you ready to party. It is simply irresistible, a release all rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll fans should and need to explore and one which will disappoint no one. Consisting of thirteen songs simultaneously providing no major surprises but catching you off guard at every turn with its enterprise and mischief, it is a release which is at ease and full potency whether seducing or excitedly ‘brawling’ with the senses , basically a long-lasting friend just waiting to be met.

It is hard to be sure exactly when Straight 8s began but with their debut album Casualties Of Cool being released in 2004, the North Carolina trio has certainly been around impressing for over a decade, recruiting a hungry fanbase and acclaim for their sound, shows, and releases along the way. Girl Trouble is the band’s third album, the successor to Never Return To Me of 2007, and has been in the making by the current line-up of founder member upright guitarist/vocalist Robert Striegler, upright bassist/vocalist Daniel Mebane, and drummer/vocalist Mark Murphy, since 2009. The three piece seed their sounds in everything from rockabilly, rock, surf, swing, country and all in between, which upon the Brain Drain Records released Girl Trouble means the listener is taken to a hop of thrillingly spiced and inventively  crafted romps.

The immediately rampant and inviting instrumental F-Hole opens up the release, its initial guitar lure almost Bolanesque within a scorching sonic beckoning. Feet and body are soon twisting to its pure rock temptation whilst a hunger for the sound is already starting to stir, though to be honest any rockabilly release does that at the start. Many then lose their grip but no such worry with Girl Trouble as second song Rock Me does what it says on its label. Rhythms and bass slaps tease and recruit the senses with ease whilst the guitar craft of Striegler send sonic tendrils of excitement around the same receptive bodies with the contagious vocal bait help the seizure of the passions.

   First One Standing In Line offers a Buddy Holly like seduction to its easy going wholly enticing rockabilly stroll, again guitars and vocals taking centre stage but shoulder to shoulder with the crisp beats of Murphy and coaxing bass calls of Mebane. Like all the songs on the album you immediately know enough about the lyrical and musical narrative to feel free and able to leap into the romp and its chorus within a minute or so, it an old friend just waiting the first introduction. Both the blues kissed guitar gaited Why Can’t You Love Me Like I Am and the sultry Slowly Lose My Mind continue the impressive start to the release, the second of the pair emerging as one of the biggest pinnacles on the album. From its opening breath drums and bass have a darker almost predatory stance placing the song in psychobilly territory whilst the vocals also strap on a sinewy intent to ignite the adventure. With a smouldering countryesque ambience pressing on the tale and the superb trumpet flames of guest Nicholas Mebane bordering mariachi magnetism, the track is a glorious romance for the emotions.

As mentioned variety is never far away on the album which the next up Porter Wagner Suit, the song a grinning mix of surf rock melodic flaming and blues hued swing stomping led by great baritone fuelled vocals, and the throaty sounding rockabilly excellence of Help Me Save My Life both thrillingly show. Split by the brief Interlude, a fifty second instrumental of pacing rhythms and bass steps beneath a glassy melodic waltz, the tracks alone leave everything from ears and feet to imagination and emotions lively recipients.

    El Mirage returns the listener to the earlier sultry western climes; rhythms cantering across the shimmering hot climes cast by the instrumental as the guitar of Striegler paints and colours the scenic venture expanding in the imagination. It is an enthralling blaze which makes way for the insatiable energy and eager to romp enticement of You’re Always Gone, the song boisterous bait for which there is no resistance, its infection soaked incitement like a cross between The Stargazers and The Polecats.

The final trio of tracks do not allow any slip in the grip of Girl Trouble, the seducing delights of the country rock seeded Two Stubborn Fools featuring the temptress like vocals of Sarah Shook, and the humid You’ll Never Get Away with its gypsy like beguiling temptation and Latin swing spawned wantonness, both scintillating embraces for the now lustful passions whilst the closing Summer Set provides a surf rock sunset which has imagination and energy drifting away wholly satisfied and contented.

Also featuring guest appearances from Phil Sullivan on lap steel guitar and Colin Murphy on vibraphone, Girl Trouble is a gem of a release, an album which is as nostalgic and as fresh a rockabilly encounter as you could wish and hope for. Straight 8s have it all and more…

http://www.straight8s.com/

10/10

RingMaster 19/11/2013

 

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The Creepshow – Life After Death

With a shakeup in the band line-up having marked the past year or so, Canadian rockers The Creepshow unleash their new album to easily answer any questions, or doubts which may have risen over the period concerning the change. Life After Death is a thumping treat of a riot, a bruising and seductive blaze of multi-flavoured rock ‘n’ roll which feeds all the constant hunger for the band’s distinctive sound within fans whilst expand their sound to its fullest adventure yet. The eleven track stomp sees the Toronto quintet sculpting songs from a fiery mix of rockabilly, psychobilly, punk, and hard rock, a rangy blend which stretches the imagination and energy of the band arguably to its greatest potency to date. It is a storming encounter which ignites the senses and passions as only The Creepshow can.

Formed in 2005, the band has built a formidable place within psychobilly bred adventure through their impressive albums and dramatically riveting and raucous live shows which has seen the band alongside the likes of Rancid, Tiger Army, TheUnseen, Agnostic Front, Mad Sin, Demented Are Go to name just a few and ignite numerous festivals such as like Ink’n’Iron, Festival Of Fear, Mighty Sounds, and Rebellion over the years. Their releases from debut album Sell Your Soul of 2006, the exceptional Run for Your Life two years later, and the equally incendiary They All Fall Down in 2010, have helped thrust the band to the frontline of rock ‘n’ roll bred voraciousness but certainly the departure of vocalist Sarah “Sin” Blackwood to focus on her involvement with Walk Off The Earth last year raised some questions about the band’s future sound. The truth, as shown by the new release, is that the change has only drawn a fresh breath into and energy from the band, a new appetite which has honed Life After Death into an exceptionally vibrant and compelling confrontation.

Stepping into the gap left by Blackwood is Kendalyn “Kenda” Legaspi, her vocal fire and guitar craft a stylish hungry presence which takes the snarl of the band into a fresh rapaciousness and devilry to match the movement of the band’s sound. Life After Death also sees new drummer Sandro Sanchioni and guitarist Daniel Flamm (Ski’ s Country Trash) alongside Legaspi, bassist Sean “Sickboy” McNab, and Kristian “The Reverend McGinty” Rowles on keys, a fresh union which finds The Creepshow arguably at their most powerful and gripping.

Opener See You In Hell storms through the ear with a greedy charge of badgering rhythms and adrenaline coaxed riffs, the track a psychobilly contagion which without creating new realms for the style provides a predatory thrill which ticks all the right boxes for the passions. The vocals of Legaspi on this song have initially a voice close to that of Blackwood but as the album expands she shows her distinct and unique presence potently alongside the musical adventures. With the upright bass craft of McNab as delicious and inciting as expected with the band’s invention, the track is a stonking start to the album which is soon backed by The Devil’s Son. The song from its opening second has a sultry lure and heated breath to its rockabilly prowl, keys a smouldering glaze over the rhythmic caging of the imagination and the seductive Wanda Jackson hinting vocals. Insistently infectious the song merges a fifties swagger with a sixties keys narrative which with the excellent vocal harmonies just captivates and mesmerises the imagination.

The first single from the release Sinners & Saints bounds into view next, the song a feisty energetic dance of juggling rhythms and bass provocation beneath a melodic flame of easily accessible and inventive temptation. For personal tastes it is not the strongest or preferred song to tempt people into the album but it is still a pleasing and enticing encounter which sets up an even greater appetite for the following gems of Born To Lose and Settle The Score. The first is a song which maybe should not work but does magnificently. Like a merger of Jerry Lee Lewis and Meatloaf, the fusion of classic rock ‘n’ roll and seventies hard rock with glam tendencies leaves the senses breathless and intrigued. A track which walks the fine line between being crazy and sparking total adoration, it is ultimately a riveting slice of invention which challenges and explores the imagination for the strongest satisfaction. Its successor like the first song of the album, is less adventurous rather sticking to a straightforward rockabilly stance but at the same time has no lack of punch and virulent bait to continue the impressive body of the album.

Failing Grade makes a grab for the passions next, its brawling intensity and confronting energy caged within a rhythmic irresistibility sheer magnetism. There is a punk rabidity to the song which urges it on whilst vocally, Legaspi backed again by great band confirmation steals prime attention. Like a mix of Spinnerette and Tiger Army it is a major joy with the keys of Rowles casting an absorbing evocative weave over the heart of the song with his imagination. One of many highlights upon the release it is not standing alone for long as immediately both Second Chance and Last Call state their claims for top spot on the release, the first an elegant stomp soaked in sixties inspired keys and veined with rockabilly punctuation whilst its successor is a glorious fire of punk and blues rock ‘n’ roll. Like a blend of Flogging Molly and Bill Haley with King Kurt the Ringleader, it is a terrific unpredictable gem with McNab leading the vocals across a scintillating brass flame of inventive temptation.

Just as right across its length the album closes by unloading another mass brawl of mighty allurements, Take It Away first igniting the ears with its anthemic rockabilly antagonism before making way for the outstanding punk ‘n’ roll predation of Can’t Wait To See You Fall. The song with another psychobilly and punk explosiveness within a sweltering melodic sky leaves the hunger rabid for more, with the sensational vocals of Legaspi a sirenesque temptress which she repeats upon the closing title track. An exceptional conclusion to an equally immense album, the song ensures that Life After Death is a lingering battling enticement of pleasure.

The Creepshow just go from strength to strength and have not let a little matter of changing front ladies diffuse their invention, imagination, and might. Punk ‘n’ roll album of the year…it just might be.

http://www.thecreepshow.org

9/10

RingMaster 22/10/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Keyside Strike/Rust– Olde Worlde-New World split 7”

A rigorous bruising of dirty uncompromising punk rock, the Olde Worlde-New World split 7” is one of those releases which slaps you around the chops and lifts the spirits as only the purest form of the genre can. Featuring UK punks Keyside Strike and Australian aural rioters Rust, the five track EP leaves emotions and thoughts drenched in aggressive intent whilst basking in raw stringent punk at its antagonistic height.

Released via Rebel Sound Music, the raucousness starts with two tracks from Rust. Hailing from Sydney, the band formed in 2005 and features members from some of Australia’s most prominent punk rock bands from over the years including Crucified Venus, Crankcase, Rule 303, World War 24, and Black Rose. The band is no stranger to acclaim back home and further afield from live performances which has seen them veterans of three UK tours and recently their first around America, as well as sharing stages with the likes of Dead Kennedys, GBH, Peter & The Test Tube Babies, The Exploited, UK Subs, DOA, The Business, Sham 69, Rose Tattoo, The Varukers, The Vibrators and many more. With equally potent responses to their releases, especially the 2010 album Lean Mean Street Machine and Oi Oi Aussie Rock & Roll live, Rust now offer two striking tracks to Olde Worlde-New World, starting with Send My Love From England. An opening throaty bass croon immediately grips attention and more, its coaxing irresistible and soon joined by the caustic riffs and strikes of guitar within a punching rhythmic testing. With the kind of punk vocal delivery you almost expect with old school bred assaults, the track offers strong magnetic hooks and excellent anthemic moments to seize full vocal and body co-operation from the listener. It is a great start, a song with no surprises but one that ticks all the boxes for a deeply pleasing slab of punk antagonism

Their second offering is a cover of The Specials track Concrete Jungle, another undeniably enterprising and enjoyable swipe across the jaw. With a sinew driven rhythmic frame close to the original but more exploratory flames of guitar invention rousing the spirits within one of its creators most memorable stomps, it is impossible not to swept up in its riotous but respectful barging. Rust have taken the already punk element of the song and given it freedom to shape its own riveting romp with an oi rampancy, the result we suggest one of the best covers this year.

    Taking over on the EP, Darlington trio Keyside Strike create tempests of punk infused with dirty rock ‘n’ roll, blues, hardcore, and psychobilly. Formed in 2002 their sound is one which stomps on the senses whilst plucking the passions with irresistible hooks, all within again a brawling maelstrom of roughly imposing energy and invigorating urgency. Their two albums and numerous appearances on compilations has made the band one of the true rock ‘n’ roll bands in the Northeast of England whilst their impressive live shows has seen them share stages with bands such as The Business, Murphy’s Law, Street Dogs, UK Subs, Demented Are Go!, Discharge, Madball, Demon City Wreckers, Stitch Hopeless And The Sea Leg and loads more across the UK, Europe, and America.

The band instantly snarl and rampage from within the split EP with Back From Hell, the track an avalanche of barbaric beats, caustic riffs, and squalling grouchy vocals. Immediately the fury is like a violation from a banding together of Motorhead, Offspring, Discharge, and The Pirates. With the song already making the fullest persuasion, the waspish niggling grooves and vocals tension honed into anthem causing chants only secure a long term appetite which is fed to even greater heights by the following Knives, the best song on the EP. Bulging drum beats open up the passions to gripping effect and are soon leading the senses into a psychobilly honed bait flavoured to greater potency by the menacing blazes of guitar and rising swells of sonic invention not forgetting a predatory bass stalk and great vocal gruffness which are simply enslaving. In full stride the song grips with infectious hooks and a vibrant jaw which flings the imagination and emotions around like a submissive carcass, whilst the Therapy? like carnivorous seduction of primal voracity breeds lustful addiction to the rioting predation.

The final offering is Youth (Y2K), a cover of a track by The Blitz and a closing slice of pure old school punk which you just cannot resist adding voice and fist strikes to as it ignites nostalgic rapture with its raw simplicity and uncluttered, uncompromising punk rock hymn. It makes a great finish to an excellent release featuring two bands which from strangers will trigger a wealth of new attention and for fans simply confirm what they knew for ages, Rust and Keyside Strike are two outstanding impressive punk bands.

https://www.facebook.com/rustpunk

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keyside-Strike/146906715382167

8/10

RingMaster 10/10/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

The Howling Bullets – Ghoul County

photo: Lily Lemonpie

With a blood thirst to their invention and predatory stench to their sounds, Canadian horror rock band The Howling Bullets return with new EP Ghoul County to resume their preying on the psyche. Following their excellent From The Public Domain EP of 2012, the new six track stalking is a ravenous expanse of horror rock, psychobilly, and country punk unleashed in diverse permutations and uncompromising passion.

Hailing from the darkest corners of Toronto, The Howling Bullets came together around 2011, DanO Villano and Jordan Sane coming together a little earlier to write and expand on songs the former had already been working on. Soon a full band The Public Domain EP brought the band to closer attention beyond their strong local reputation including an internet presence which brought them to hunger of shows like The Bone Orchard at www.audioburger.com. A line-up change brought in guitarist Seanbelly Sewell alongside the dual attack of vocalists and bassists Sane and Villano later that year with Alvin Lapp joining on drums. Shows and festival appearances alongside the likes of Christian D and the Hangovers, Owen Mays, Bloodshot Bill, The Brains, Koffin Kats, The House Of Haunt and many more, only enhanced their stature and the appetite for their fiery horror bred sounds. April of this year saw the current line-up in place with Elena Red taking control of the rhythms with her stick mystique and now September 27^th sees the next instalment of The Howling Bullets bloody alchemy set loose.

The EP growls into view with Ghoul County Limits, a carnivorous bass riff drawing in the equally rapacious guitars and rhythmic lashing of Red. A hunger driven intensity and stroll to the song provides an unrelenting temptation which is raised further by the great vocals, the two frontman trading verses, and the melodic flames which flare up across the contagious charge. Like a meat clad bone before a hound the horror punk introduction to the release is potent bait, its equally delicious psychobilly tonic only increasing its lure and grip on awakening passions.

The addiction causing start is followed by Zombie Bat, a rampage which takes its lead from its predecessor in showing no thoughts of restraint in the riffs and rhythmic enticement. In its gait and invention the song twists, turns, and stops at a whim to show immediate diversity whilst keeping the senses and appetite greedily attentive and wrapped in unpredictable seduction. There is a familiarity to the swagger and tone of the song it has to be said, and though saying Misfits is too easy but certainly there is a sense of that flavour of horror rock at mischievous play.

Cold Cold Skin shimmers from its opening breath with a sonic guitar mist which rains down on the emerging prowl and intimidation of the song whilst caressing the imagination. There is a Samhain growl and menace to the song from the start which only ignites greater rapture for the already impressive release. Equipped with blues fumes and an uncompromising snarl, the slowly stomping burn of the track traps the passions with a blaze of guitar blues excellence in the midst of the predacious smothering of the senses, the result a seizure of the passions from the persuasive offering.

The heat is turned up with the scintillating instrumental The Djinn, a middle Eastern surf rock blaze of grumbling rhythms and tight acidic enterprise coaxed and goaded by the ever riveting dual bass attack. Wrapped in chilling mystique and dangerous melodic enchantment the piece of music is another irresistible magnet making the perfect appetiser for the best track on Ghoul County, the ravenous New Age Hex. Adrenaline fuelled with a certain punk rabidity to its Cramps like gnawing of the psyche, the track is as virulently infectious as it is skilfully intimidating, and over far too soon for these greedy passions. Impossible for feet and voice not to join in its devilry, the song lands enjoyably somewhere between Guana Batz and King Kurt in sound and as mentioned The Cramps in its rawer lining of epidemic suasion.

The closing That Hellbound Train enters into the realm of country rock for its ghostly tale of a railroad haunting. Now country music for us is as welcome as an octogenarian stripper but with its more of an outlaw cowpunk spicing and excellent guitar work it is a very pleasing finale to an excellent release, even if not quite igniting the fires inside of other songs on the EP.

For prime rockabilly/horror rock with a multifarious depth of flavours and imagination, The Howling Bullets has crafted one of the true exciting dangerous adventures, but are you brave enough to enter Ghoul County .

http://www.thehowlingbullets.com/

9/10

RingMaster 26/09/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

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Rocking the restless…introducing Bottle Cap Rockets

 

BottleCapRockets: Al Gross and Chris Wolfer with drummer Johnny Powers

Sometimes you listen to a band for the first time and there is a glint in the eye of their sound, maybe a swagger of confidence to its persuasion which leaves a lingering presence which coaxes and insists you return to their melodic arms time and time again. So it was with US rockabilly band Bottle Cap Rockets. Listening to just one song ignited a spark of hunger and suspicion that this is a band heading for satisfyingly potent horizons. Obviously music is never a friendly beast for bands and often fails to deliver deserved rewards but with their impressive rockabilly sound veined by a rich and varied spicery of flavours and invention, you can only feel Bottle Cap Rockets are set for a heady ascent.

The band was formed in 2010 by vocalist/guitarist Al Gross, the band’s songwriter. Recruiting bassist/backing vocalist Chris Wolfer to complete the core of the band, with several different drummers recruited to make a trio for gigs, Gross was soon working on songs for the debut  release, First Seven which came out in August of last year. Based in Ringwood, New Jersey, Bottle Cap Rockets did not take long to grab attention and a strong local reputation for their blend of Americana fifties style rock and rockabilly with at times a passionate country lilt, which is no surprise when you fall into the embrace of their songs. Since forming the band has earned many highlights including opening for Eric Lindell at Mexicali Live in Teaneck NJ, playing the legendary Maxwell’s of Hoboken, and being part of the Roxy & Dukes Rockabilly Rally in Dunellen NJ, where they shared a stage with the likes of Nikki Hill, The Ultra Kings, and Crash Gordon with Debra Dynamite on vocals. Now working towards new release Go Ape with a planned early 2014 release, Bottle Cap Rockets’ stock is in an open ascendency which when looking at some of their songs it is not really a surprise.

As mentioned they have a great diversity to their invention and music which by just looking at a quartet of songs you sense the depth of the songwriting and vision. If you immerse yourself in the sultry warmth of We Never Said Goodbye, the band soon treats the ear to a melodic haze of tender yet energetic mastery. The song has a smouldering glaze to its caresses which wrap an eager tempo and the excellent vocals of Gross ably complemented by the equally absorbing tones of Wolfer. Like a mix of Roy Orbison and Link Wray with a whisper of Nick Lowe, and all veined by compelling guitar flames around the infectious call of the song’s core, the serenade is an instantaneously temptation which leaves resistance a void option.

Black Eldorado offers a feisty dirtier proposition but no less magnetic and contagious. With a harder rock edge to its compelling musical and lyrical narrative, the song finds a more of a Dave Edmunds stroll to its delicious hot persistence. Again the song has an even tempo which makes no demands but secures full submission but equally there is an incendiary strength and muscle to the track which leaves no thought and passion unlit.

It has to be said that for all the great tracks we have heard from the band, Can’t Stop The Bleeding is the show stopper, and just recently brought the audience to their bloodlusting feet when being featured on The Bone Orchard podcast at www.audioburger.com. Unleashing a snarl and rapacious stalking which verges more on psychobilly than rockabilly, the song prowls and taunts the imagination with an irresistible growl of predacious riffs and rhythmic enslavement, whilst its chorus is pure virulence. Like the Stray Cats meeting Black Frame Spectacle and Guana Batz on a blood splattered shadowed street corner, the slice of intimidating devilry is one of the best rock ‘n’ roll tracks of past years..

Looking at one more song to show the strength of the band’s invention, I Don’t Love You is a hungry slap of rockabilly cast with another addiction causing chorus which punches things up a gear to launch a full rabid charge of energy and an attack of exciting confrontation. The version of the song we heard was a live cut of a track set to appear on Go Ape which only lights a real hunger to see the band in performance, which on the evidence of this lone song looks like being a memorable and sweaty treat, and for the upcoming release.

The future release of Go Ape has a big appetite and anticipation to satisfy from fans and growing media awareness, but you get the feeling Bottle Cap Rockets will take on and defeat the challenge with ease if their earlier tracks are accurate teasers.

Check out the tracks above at http://www.reverbnation.com/algrossthebottlecaprockets and find out more about Bottle Cap Rockets and all their upcoming live shows at http://bottlecaprockets.com/

RingMaster 26/09/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

The Kings Of Outer Space – How To Fly A Rocket

There is not a great deal we can tell you about UK rockabillies The Kings Of Outer Space, but one thing we can declare with loud confidence is that their new album How To Fly A Rocket is one exhilarating trip you will just want to climb on board with. Hailing from Bristol, the quintet has earned a fine reputation for their live performances, invigorating sound, and their impressive debut album Cosmic Debris. Released via Western Star Records, as its predecessor, the new album offers thirteen riotous dances of irrepressible and addiction causing temptation, rockabilly brought with passionate mischief and riveting enterprise. There is no pretence to be what it is not; the album and its tantalising contents just honest fun driven rock ‘n’ roll at its exciting best.

Themed from the likes of science fiction sexual teasing through to shadow draped mysteries with numerous energetic exploits in between, How To Fly A Rocket takes barely seconds to have ear, senses, feet not forgetting emotions engaged and belted up for the soaring journey of opener P.G.I.T.U. Introduced with a galactic announcement, the song instantly cups the ear with a delicious melodic tease of guitar with swipes of muscular rhythms drawing in the excellent upright bass croon brought by Greggsy and the great vocals of Giggsy. Straight away you know what you are going to get from song and album, the uncluttered and precise devilry of the guitars and their irresistible hooks matched by a rhythmic seduction. Feet and voice is the song’s plaything pretty much from its opening and chords too, whilst the track impressively manages to have a familiarity to it but also a fresh originality. Not for the first time on the album the band offers essences of other genres with a subtle craft, punk and country just two spices which add ingenious individuality to tracks and release.

The next up 44 opens with an accordion dance provided by guest Ian Norrys, a Parisian breath toying with the opening romp of beats and guitar coaxing from Mickey and Matt. Straight away it offers a distinctively different treat, the variation continuing across the album with each song having its own character and personal toxicity for the heart. From the canter of the second track the album next steps into the menacing mystique of Fall From Grace, the shadowed romance of danger embellished with an excellent harmonica flame from another guest musician in Paul Lynch. Paced by equally heated guitar craft and the rhythmic stepping of drummer Steve, the union makes for a countryesque slightly Cajun invitation which only stokes the fires all the more.

The following Daggertrap twists around the senses with a psychobilly and surf rock mix, the instrumental one of those pieces which has feet hoofing across the floor and emotions in close attention as it lingers welcomingly long after departure, the same which can be said of the excellent Monkey Alarm. Impossibly contagious the track is an old school rockabilly cored slice of rapacious recruitment of the emotions. With an impossible to resist joining chorus and a rampant energy to its stomp, the track is another infection drenched pinnacle with the diablerie of King Salami & The Cumberland Three and the punk grit of Guan Batz.

Both Watch Me Burn and Creepy Crawl keep the release on the highest plateau, the first with a more antagonistic attitude to vocals and its darker but still magnetic sound whilst its successor is a tantalising prowl of sinisterly goings on brought to the imagination upon a gliding shadow and brooding almost taunting seductive tones. There is no decline in thrills with the easy going Cochran like Haunted Man or the smouldering Smilin’ Eyes either whilst the brilliant Cosmic Thrust just climbs up another rung with its rhythmic shuffling and melodic fascination embroiled in more rockabilly enslavement. The warning groove which erupts halfway through sends the track into the deepest reaches of rapture, its Buzzcocks like toxin pure discord touching manna.

From the enticing country twanging Long Dry Summer the album bows out with the space dwelling glories of     Moon Buggy Baby and Rocket Ride, the first a planetary crossing love affair with Gene Vincent guile, and a touch of cheesiness   which just works, and the final song a simple but energised contagion again merging vintage rockabilly and surf rock into a potent fascination. How To Fly A Rocket is nothing less than pure joy, a release which also touches thoughts of band such as The Stargazers, Mickey & The Mutants, The Ghastly Ones, and The Phenomenauts but stands distinctly as The Kings Of Outer Space at the end of the day…a great album for good times.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kings-Of-Outer-Space/110452709023793

9.5/10

RingMaster 10/09/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

The Brains – The Monster Within

Room for one more on the list of Album Of The Year candidates?

It may be full already but there is always a place for albums as irresistible and explosively potent as The Monster Within, the latest album from Canadian rockers The Brains. Fusing insatiable encounters of psychobilly and horror punk with straight down the line rock ‘n’ roll, the fourteen track release is one determined and virulently contagious ride before which resistance is futile, especially if the genre ignites furnaces of fire deep inside like for us.

The Monster Within is the band’s sixth album and stands before the ear to prove once again that The Brains just continue to get better and musically they are full bodied like vintage wine with each passing record. The band has lit up every corner of the world through their breath-taking live performances, which haves seen them play with the likes of Mad Sin, The Offspring, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Real McKenzies, The Creepshow and many more, no continent safe from their epidemic toxin of sound, but it might just be that their new album is their finest moment yet. Released via Sailors Grave Records and Stomp Records in Canada, its towering presence can be best described as Rezurex meets Grumpynators with Volbeat, Calabrese, and Tiger Army adding their juices to the mix. What emerges is a sound and release which is truly distinctive to The Brains and an incendiary device for the heart.

The trio of vocalist/guitarist Renè De La Muerte, bassist Collin The Dead, and drummer Pat Cadaver do not hold anything back from the opening note of the first up title track. Energy and riffs are immediately enslaving the ear with relish and hunger as a storm of rockabilly and heavy rock, from which you almost expect Lemmy to step out of, absorb the senses with the outstanding tones of De La Muerte holding court. The music embraces him in powerful and melodic enterprise, everything feeding the awakened passions before them. It is a storming mix of light and dark wrapped in an infection to which escape is impossible from song and subsequently the album as it unleashes more individual but just the same addictive alchemy.

Give It All takes over with a slightly more restrained attack though no less lethal for resistance, its anthemic chorus and full on rhythmic temptation just one of its many lures. The varied and textured mix of sound and flavours across the album ensures that every moment is ridiculously compelling and this track is no exception, in fact one of the most intensively submission ripping triumphs.

A Stray Cats tonic sprays out as Misery unveils its frenetic dance within a blaze of vibrant melodic flames, a cage of frenetic rhythms trapping the passions in a state of ardour whilst the swagger which drives the track home only lights stronger rabidity for what is to come, something which the likes of The Damned and Bleed only encourage further with their devilish teasing. The first of the pair is a smouldering melodic caress hanging onto a rapidly coursing rhythmic and energetic gait whilst its successor lays down a trail of schizophrenic beats and riffs for the melodic breeze of vocals and guitar seduction to light deeper far reaching flames. There is a heat to the song which transports the imagination to climes where sweat on the brow is a given, the same result as achieved by the driving predation of the excellent Stay Back, its uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll passion igniting another anthemic union.

There is not one moment of weakness or a lull in the flow of the album’s quality and glory, the scintillating Electrik Shock with its underlying teasing Cajun twang and the demonically tempting Rest In Pieces with its venomous narrative simply sucking greater rapture from the heart whilst the glorious surf rock instrumental Cucaracha In Leather  finds a somewhat carnivorous fascination for the senses and imagination to work with. The track is a shoe-in for a Tarantino movie somewhere surely.

Suddenly the album seems to lose focus and control…yeah as if. Both Kill Kill and Suffering And Pain seize their moment to ravage and simultaneously exhilarate the ear, their different but kindred charge of rhythmic rapacity and melodic paintwork adding another unique gloss to the emotions. The first finds a low whisper of Eastern mystique to its body whilst the second strolls confidently with a wily enchantment of those ever persuasive vocal harmonies and twisted mischievous guitar invention.

Devil In Disguise and Lies combine to ensure the album does not leave until a visit to their blood drenched sinister hop is taken, their exceptional control of the listeners limbs, voice, and energy surely meaning they are on the most wanted list of perpetrators. They leave Rolling Down to mop up the sweat soaked floor with its melodic, almost pop like croon, though all it wants to do is dance which it does successfully with guitar and drums expanding on the bass led potent diablerie.

The Monster Within is just magnificent, an album with all the majesty to be looked at as one of the true rock ‘n’ roll classics. The Brains has just become the new lust for the site, come join us.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBrainsMTL

10/10

RingMaster 06/09/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com