There is always great enjoyment in the snowball effect of discovering one new band which in turns leads to another and so on. Checking out the new album from Finnish band Wanton on Undead Artists inspired the thought of what other psychobilly bands were hidden in the underground of their homeland. Quickly standing out amongst a potent many was Helsinki quartet Buzzkillz for which a like on their Facebook profile was inevitable. This in turn sparked the band to get in touch with their latest album Scum Of The Earth and now an eager recommendation of its contagious punkabilly.
Buzzkillz was formed in 2011 by vocalist/guitarist Ultima Foole and double bassist Jybe, the pair after playing for many years in their own respective bands “decided to do better music together”. A few personnel changes led to the current and potent line-up of guitarist Antti and drummer Joiku alongside the founding pair stepping forward in 2015 with an arsenal of punk/rockabilly bred tracks. The following year saw the band record their debut album with the uncaging of Scum Of The Earth coming in its fall and still luring a host of new hungry appetites for their sound week by week,.
Scum Of The Earth opens up with Sick Of It All, enticing with a Clash like beckoning before stomping through ears with psychobilly muscle and virulence. Rhythms take no prisoners, beats a thumping trespass backed by the delicious resonating bait that only a double bass can offer. The vocal growl of Ultima is quickly in the bullying mix, his grouchy tones backed potently across the band as the song cantankerously bounds across the senses. With wiry melodies adding to the pleasure, it is a great start swiftly backed up by the addictive punk ‘n’ roll shuffle of Deepest Pockets. Like a mix of Russian punks Biting Elbows and the Danes Grumpynators, the track soon has body and spirit locked in its grip and with consummate ease.
I’m Not The One comes next, its cowpunk flavouring another easy to embrace temptation and the spicy lining to the track’s contagious swing before the album’s title track brings a dirtier, grittier slab of rock ‘n’ roll to the party. Both tracks hit the spot dead centre, the second with a tone reminding of The Peacocks but equally each is overshadowed by the rousing rumble and incitement of Losing The Fight. With anthemic rhythms alone stoking up feverish fires, the song ensnares eager ears and appetite, treating both to a mesh of sultry melodies over relentlessly catchy rhythms.
Through the punk ‘n’ roll intimidation of Outside, Jybe unleashing another simply irresistible infection of bass, and the sinister rockabilly seduction of Fear Of The Unknown, band and album further share rich variety and salacious flirtation while Roll The Dice delves into some ska punk seeded devilment to stretch that diversity within those three songs alone.
Psychobilly drives the irritable charge of Monsters next, the track a rapacious trespass of ears and pleasure simultaneously infesting and captivating the imagination. Its melodies entice with zeal as riffs and rhythms badger and trap an instinctive appetite for their source genre; a psychobilly flavouring just as eagerly fuelling the carnivorous exploits of Some Scars, a track something akin to The Meteors in league with Nekromantix.
There is a whiff of Tiger Army to the smouldering seduction of Sleepwalking but at times even more so of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers with its dark off-kilter invention. Persistently, the song unveils a fresh twist and hue to its rock ‘n’ roll, emerging the most unique and thrilling proposal in a horde of only striking encounters.
The album ends with the muscular rock ‘n’ roll of Cross To Bare, a slab of punk rock putting a feisty cap on one rousing and thoroughly enjoyable release. There are plenty of familiar hues to the album but with a freshness and inventive prowess which employs rather than relies on them. Buzzkillz is a band ready to embrace attention far beyond their homeland, they have done their part in that aim with Scum Of The Earth; the rest is down to you. Now the question is from their discovery where will we be next led…
Scum Of The Earth is available now @ https://buzzkillzband.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/Buzzkillzband/
Pete RingMaster 18/04/2017
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Fusing garage punk and punk rock with fifties rock ‘n’ roll, the Dirty Jane sound prowls ears and psyche like a fusion of The Cramps, The Phantom, Dick Venom and The Terrortones, and Eighteen Nightmares At the Lux; a creative breed of temptation which instantly has ears and appetite inflamed as the single sonically and vocally shatters the silence. Within another breath, rhythms are prowling the senses with a lively almost predacious gait casting catchy menace for Brown to vocally embrace. With insatiable hooks equally grabbing ears all along his guitar’s swarthy grooves, a delicious grumble to Beadsmore’s bass alongside, and the whole of the band courting thick involvement with their vocal roars, the song demands lusty participation, Morris’ tenaciously swinging beats extra incentive.
The pugilistic rascality of Nosebleed Boogie is next, guitars and sax colluding in a devilish enticement of melodic theatre as King Salami uses Ali like vocal footwork to evade the rhythmic punches, his magnetic prowess like a blend of Bo Diddley and Little Walter before offering even feistier fun in the boisterous romp of Busy Body. An infection of spicy grooves and virulent riffs, the song ensures the listener is on the end of major manipulation echoing its title before the glorious adventure of King Ghidorah rises up from its oriental bed with sixties cinematic adventure fuelling its melodies and rhythms. With King Salami a dramatic narrator, T. Bone Sanchez’s grooves are a three headed tempting of flirtatious hookery, melodic seduction, and tenacious persuasion, theatre skirted by the addictive rhythmic rumble of bassist Kamikaze UT Vincent and drummer Eric Baconstrip.
From the contagious mayhem of the opener, the album intensifies its temptation through Like a Bat. It uncages an even more intensive nagging of body and senses, its rousing persuasion and infernal swing cored by a delicious hook swiftly infesting the imagination and passions with vampiric hunger before 8% uncages its own attitude loaded roar. Like a mix of Demented Are Go and Zombie Ghost Train, the song has the body leaping eagerly in union with its own physical prowess. A cowpunk spicing just adds to the fiercely agreeable romp, the album getting better and bolder with every passing minute.
The album’s title track steps up next, providing its own invasive catchiness and irresistible demand on the senses and limbs. The vocal backing of The Rev and Mummery is as sinisterly flavoursome as Norm’s lead as darkly toxic groves and niggly riffs all add with instinct rousing rhythms to psychobilly manna for ears and appetite.
The noir lit Midnight Blues brings some great sixties garage rock keys from Baroni into play next, that a decade equally referenced by Hutter’s glorious vocals and the harmonies swimming through the seductive air of the track. A blues hue coats the guitar solo at the heart of the seductive smoulder too, a tempting which never relaxes until it steps aside for the rockabilly saunter of Desperation where Hutter is again as magnetic as the contagious hooks and swinging rhythms.
As evidenced in the album’s opener alone it does not mean there is an absence of the flirtatious hooks and unpredictable twists, as well as the energy driven virulence fans have become so enamoured by in his music. Devils Not Angels is an irresistible start to the adventure; a flirtatious romp from its first guitar flame quickly breaking into a feisty swagger with a seriously catchy attitude and incitement of sound. From the smiling keys of Dan Edwards to the rousing rhythms of bassist Steven Oats and drummer Matt Cowley, the song has body and soul pumped with raw pleasure taken further care of by the gravelly voice and fiery guitar craft of Big Boy Bloater.