Numb – Self Titled

Sep18

September is proving this year’s most productive month for striking releases and to support the claim allow us to introduce the debut album from British outfit Numb. The self-titled introduction offers up eight slices of rousing multi-flavoured rock littered with imagination spearing hooks and ear thrilling grooves. The band is also no lightweight in casting fiery seductive melodies and a rhythmic incitement which has feet and hips as submissive as the senses to the combined temptation.

Formed in 2015, Numb was the rekindling of an already established long term musical collaboration between guitarist songwriter Darren Caven-Quantrill and multi-instrumentalist composer Barney Byron (The Calling, Audioeinstein) which quickly enlisted lyricist and vocalist Lee Rayner. With its line-up subsequently completed by drummer Damo Falkowski (Deadeye), the Northampton band took their time writing and honing the sound now lighting up their debut like a beacon.

The album instantly has ears seriously attentive with the initial groove of Common Love, the lure a riveting enticement soon supported by rhythmic tenacity and a wave of infectious riffs. Establishing a stirring surge of rock ‘’n roll, the track continues to build its body and alternative nurtured temptation. The vocals of Rayner similarly grab the appetite, his tone and words bouncing on the web of guitars and bass as a great blues spicing lines the grooving and urgency guides riffs and beats but with a control and invention which enhances the instinctive infectiousness of it all.

It is an outstanding start swiftly eclipsed by the following Love Of The Cartel (Part 2). Instantly a Latin melody hugs grooves as the track seduces with a great Breed 77 like air, indeed there is a feel of the band’s frontman, Paul Isola, to Rayner’s tone. Swinging with eager and muscular dexterity, the song is pure temptation grabbing body and spirit with swift success. Not for the last time in a Numb song there is a feel of rockabilly spiced rock ‘n’ roll at work within the tapestry of metal and heavy rock and that catchiness which again simply infests the psyche.

Everyman Deserves The Right To Choose His Own Path To Hell comes next, it too sharing a spicing of the aforementioned Gibraltar band within its more composed gait. Riffs jab as beats stab, melodic flames surrounding the potent vocals of Rayner as it heads to another contagion loaded chorus so easy to get wrapped up in. There is a great theatre to the song which is only enhanced by the Muse-esque venture of the guitar towards its tantalising finale, a spirit sparking climax perfectly setting up the appetite for the compelling enterprise of Time. The stringed temptation of the guitars is instant seduction and only accentuated by the rampaging thick tide of riffs and the tone gurning bass. The song relaxes into a stable energy as vocals enter the affair but eventually everything becomes turned on and hits top gear with mouth-watering imagination. The song is glorious, never settling down into any sense of predictability with each cycle a new and fresh adventure.

There is an industrial hue to certainly the opening bait of The Tears You Cry, its cosmopolitan suggestion aligned to thought teasing melody before it all evolves into a raptorial rock ‘n’ roll prowl led by Rayner’s expressive presence. The bolder invention of its predecessor is more subdued in the track but not absent and it does not stop it grabbing tightly ears and a by now greedy appetite for the release and increasing the pleasure. That extra strain of imagination is saved instead for successor Love Of The Cartel (Part 1). Why part 1 is after 2 we cannot say but the track is a journey of sound and emotion in its own extensive right. Caressing melodies court Rayner’s emotive voice, the bass a melancholic yet vibrant companion as the song reveals its creative and emotional drama. Like a growing battlefield within which sabre like hooks flash and fly as riffs and running grooves entwine and rhythms badger the senses, the track is sheer magnetism. In time volatility hits voice and heart, antagonism fuelling emotional outbursts before it is all pulled back into the surging infection of the thrilling encounter.

The release is concluded by the final pair of War and Burn. The first carries a steely antagonism in its riffs and rhythms, a defiant attitude which shapes the song’s physical and vocal character as well as its melodic reflection, while the second rumbles and grumbles with a Danzig like hue, twisting with irritability and turning with complimenting temptation. Both tracks leave greed for band and sound further intense and with us an already impatient anticipation for what comes next from Numb.

There are numerous times when as a reviewer you feel really blessed to have the opportunity to cover new music and there are other times when you feel truly honoured; this is one of the latter moments.

The Numb album is available now through Attic Records @ http://atticrecordsuk.bigcartel.com/product/numb

https://www.facebook.com/NUMB.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/Numbsters

Pete RingMaster 15/09/2017

Bridport Dagger – Wolves/Trembling Sky

Sep16

Sometimes you just do not know the goodness which is on your doorstep. Recently we had the pleasure of being introduced by one of their numbers to Bridport Dagger, a band which it turned out rehearsed and recorded in their singer’s home studio merely ten minutes away from The RR. Even more enjoyably, the meeting left us with the UK outfit’s new single in our eager hands and the urge to tell you about its rather tasty contents as well as the important message to constantly check out and support your local scene as you never know what treats you may find.

There is not a great deal of info we can tell you about the band except that it consists of vocalist/guitarist Jason Idnani-Powdrill, guitarist Lawrence Rice, bassist/guitarist Chaz Foster, and drummer/keyboardist Arran Goodchild. The quartet draws on the inspirations of artists and flavours such as Suicide, Nadine Shah, Roy Orbison, Guadalupe Plata, Clinic, The Gun Club, Flamenco, Get Your Gun, Fado, Ennio Morricone, and film noir especially the work of Wim Wenders and recently performed in an echo chamber under the river Thames and supplied sound design for a seven day immersive play in Berlin. But their sound you ask…well the most important thing here is a dark and seductive collusion of numerous flavours and textures but is maybe best described as Nick Cave and The Walker Brothers meeting Echo and The Bunnymen on a Tarantino set as Japanese Fighting Fish share their creative devilment. What emerges is something individual and magnetic to Bridport Dagger as epitomised by the double A sided lead of new single Wolves/Trembling Sky.

The single is actually a real meaty chunk as it also includes the band’s previous EP Knife through Water including a re-mastered version of its lead track and a couple of songs from that earlier mentioned soundtrack . The single opens with Wolves and an immediate clash of sound as rhythms and guitars collide. From within the inviting clamour a rumble brews; its tone rockabilly like as the guitars between them wrap a jungle of riffs in a sultry melody as Idnani-Powdrill’s vocals begin the shadowed croon of the song. Already the magnetism is addiction level, the subsequent scythes of guitar compelling across the captivation of bass and beats as the band’s rock ‘n’ roll shares dark flirtation. Every passing second brings a new twist of drama and sound, unpredictability as thick as the imagination flowing through the outstanding encounter.

Its partner, Trembling Sky is instantly a less intense proposition, a psych rock melody dancing over the darker hues of bass and again grumbling riffs. There is a Doors-esque air to the song, a shadowed lining to its lively spirit and bounce, and a sixties instrumental tone to the guitars which only adds to its instinctive attraction. As its predecessor, the song just hits personal wants and tastes full on though at two and a half minutes or so it frustrates when it ends just as lust rises.

The rest of the release starts with tracks found on that previously mentioned EP released last year with a re-worked mix of acclaimed track Harry Dean Stanton first up. As this piece is being composed news has just come through that the actor has died; a sad timing which instantly brings a poignant edge to song and its embrace of ears and focus. The song is a dusty shimmer on the senses, a poetic sigh spiked by shards of glassy guitar and soaked with the serenade of keys; a proposition which is masterfully enthralling from start to finish.

Next up is Cowboy Drone, a track which nags and teases like a menacing mix of The Birthday Party and The Doors that sizes up the listener with every note and breath before taking them through a tombstone littered climate soaked in post punk/psych rock discord and theatre. The track is glorious, a noir drenched drama of sound and voice which thrusts the imagination into the heat of dark trespasses.

Taken from the soundtrack of the Twin Peaks inspired theatre performance Bridport Dagger created the music for, The Dangling Man is one of two original songs it was bookended by, the following Lyra the other. The first is a sombre, almost caliginous play for ears and imagination with vocals and music a shadowy lure and the melodramatic caresses of sax courtesy of George Cleghorn sublimely suggestive while the second is a fifties hued dark ballad with more than a touch of Roy Orbison to its emotional humidity. Both tracks transport the listen to a dark and intoxicating place impossible to resist lingering within.

The livelier rock ‘n’ roll of The Butcher of Rome has hips swaying and appetite dancing, bass and beats alone a rousing shuffle to be enslaved by, a trap tightened by the teasing jangle of guitars, the seductive strokes of keys, and the storytelling prowess of the vocals.

The release is completed by the sweltering emotional drenched spectacle of Wilderness, a song which gets bolder and more psychotic and discordant with every passing minute for a mouth-watering finale of provocative noise and melodic toxicity.

Wolves and Trembling Sky as a single is one of the year’s most riveting experiences on the year so far; add the rest of its treats and you have one of the most essential come its release in October.

Wolves/Trembling Sky is released October 13^th.

Upcoming live dates:

21st September: Bethnal Green Working Mens Club, London

29th September: Insomnia, Berlin

8th October: Twin Peaks UK Festival, London

10th October: Half Moon Putney, London

13th October: The Lexington (with the Flaming Stars and Get Your Gun), London

4th November: Paper Dress vintage 4th Birthday Party, London

https://www.facebook.com/bridportdagger https://bridportdagger.bandcamp.com/

Pete RingMaster 16/09/2017

Basementones – No ease, No rest, No mercy

Jul6

There is a great nagging quality to the sound of Finnish punk ‘n’’ rollers Basementones and in fine insistence within their new EP No ease, No rest, No mercy. Easily tempting ears on its first couple of listens, the release leaves the seeds of addictiveness behind; lures which spark that just one more time repetition which in turn leads to another and more obsessive qualities.

Released on Undead Artists, the EP comes four years after the release of the band’s debut album Let There Be Noise which followed their first EP Gambler of 2012. Being introduced to the band through No ease, No rest, No mercy, with thanks to a certain Johnny Rose (Thirteen Shots), founder of said label, what the band has been up to between releases we cannot say though plenty of shows seems a good guess, that and, with hindsight, the more audible honing of a sound which instinctively gets under the skin with its mix of punk rock, psychobilly, and numerous other aspects of rock ‘n’ roll.

The quartet gets down to business straight away with opener The Call, hooks and swinging rhythms instantly colluding as vocalist Jani snarls and growls in his distinctive way. The melodic dexterity of Kinnunen matches the lure of his grooves and lively hooks whilst the string slapping prowess of double bassist Tuukka needs little time to stoke instinctive ardour for throbbing suggestive basslines. Punk and rock ‘n’ roll unite in the voracious swing of the track, Lahu’s lively beats fuelling it all with tenacious energy and urgency as the EP gets off to a flying start.

And there is no time to grab a breath as the outstanding Green Bastards steps in with a spicy groove which within another second launches virulent hooks and a pulsating flirtatious bassline from within its salacious temptation. With Jani adding his raw catchiness to the contagion, the track is pure infection and the best track on offer though closely courted by the likes of the rockabilly swinging Cellmates Of Lunacy. There is a touch of The Peacocks to the track but it is soon bound in the Basementones’ character of sound and expression as other spices adds to an increasingly compelling tapestry.

A country/cowpunk hue comes with the resourceful exploits of The House its creative rustling soon twisting things into an individual proposal which bounds along with zeal and infectious dexterity if not quite matching the heights of those before it or the outstanding antics of final track No Regrets. The psychobilly essences of the third song are even more vocal within the EP closer, their sultrily toxic hues merging with horrorpunk/punk escapades as the release is given a boisterous and increasingly rousing finale.

Given the sound and potent lure of No ease, No rest, No mercy it is surprising we have not come across Basementones before but better late than never.

No ease, No rest, No mercy is out now digitally and on red vinyl through Undead Artists @ https://basementones.bandcamp.com/ and https://undeadartists.bandcamp.com/album/no-ease-no-rest-no-mercy

https://www.facebook.com/Basementones/

Pete RingMaster 04/07/2017

The Dukes Of Bordello – Lowdown ‘N’ Dirty

Jun29

To convince and prove that physical and emotional rock ‘n’ roll stomping is one of the primal instincts inside us all UK trio The Dukes Of Bordello release their debut album. Lowdown ‘N’ Dirty offers up eleven tracks of balls swinging, voracious rock ‘n’ roll which not so much lives up to its title than stamps it relentlessly into the heart. It is an encounter leaving the body and soul breathless with music which quite simply could and will seriously arouse the world around it.

Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Andy Barrott, bassist/vocalist Sion Bailey, and drummer Caradoc Tyler, The Dukes Of Bordello grab the most tenacious and infectious muscular traits from every aspect of rock music you can imagine. Rockabilly, punk rock, hard rock, and psychobilly all lay among numerous strains mixed with pure rock ‘n’ roll revealing its various decades of evolution. It results in a sound which seems familiar, like an old friend, but hits and incites with something new and bold at every twist and turn. It is dirty and trashy, inventive and skilfully resourceful like a mix of The Wildhearts, Danish outfit Grumpynators, and Canadian duo The Black Frame Spectacle and fuelling one hell of a first full-length to build on the well-received release of their 7 track self-financed Skullduggery EP/mini album of 2014.

Released physically via Death Or Glory Records and digitally by Undead Artists Records, Lowdown ‘N’ Dirty quickly shows why The Dukes Of Bordello have been firing up zealous support through gigs and festivals these past couple of years with opener All In The Name Of Rock’N’Roll. Instantly a feverish hook lays its claim to ears as the song swings into view, rhythms soon thumping their persistence as vocals incite with their own anthemic roar. Not for the last time, the twanging bass of Bailey is manna for these particular instincts and passions, it’s dulled but vibrant throb the pulsating vein around which the guitar of Barrott flames and sears the senses. The song itself is exactly as it says on the tin, seeded in and brewed with the same intent and swiftly commanding a mutual energy and involvement from body and spirit of the listener, thoughts easily imagining from the encounter alone that the band live is a dangerously commanding puppeteer of energy and stamina.

The following Hellvis is no different, a devilish infestation of ears and hips with an organic demand of both as swinging beats and biting hooks infest with a bordering on toxic infectiousness. As its predecessor, in some ways there is open familiarity to the track yet nothing about it is anything other than new and unpredictable; the same applying to next up Doing Just Enough, a slice of throbbing rockabilly nurtured romping swinging from controlled strolling to unbridled gang vocal arousal with fluid ease.

Wreckin’ Ball (Into The Pit) has a psychobilly snarl to its ballsier incitement straight after, vocals and rhythms again leading the addictive punk scented resourcefulness of the rapacious song though that steely yet almost primordial tone and character of Bailey’s bass is the prime fingering of lust sparked.

Through the addiction laying Down In The Gutter with its wiry groove woven web of boisterous hook ridden seduction and the stalking revelry of King Of The Road the album only tightens its grip. The first is an out and out stomper whilst its outstanding successor is a predacious but again relentlessly contagious compulsion on ear and heart with its dirty tarmac eating, heavy rock pounding drive. Classic and hard rock collude with more rockabilly/psycho nurtured exploits, it all coming together in a ravenous adventure before She’s My Witch shares its sultry hex like a rabidly seductive temptress with bold energy seized rhythmic hips and sonically flirtatious devilment at work. As the previous song, it quickly has a hand on best song honours, eventually having to share but never relinquishing a finger on the prize even as tracks like The Devil Rides Out feverishly serenade the imagination with its smouldering heart but forceful ingenuity. Eventually coming to its own head of ear rushing rock ‘n’ roll, the beguiling encounter has the body hooked and bouncing with increasing dexterity; the passions again in tow.

Come Back Wilko (All Is Forgiven) simply sparks with the enterprise and tenacity not forgetting the richness of rock ‘n’ roll found in its name checked inspirations; hitting and repeatedly pushing the sweet spot from start to finish while Born To Die ‘steals’ from a host of classic encounters to inspire its own distinct and individual bluesy espionage guiding body and spirit to fresh reactions and inhibition free arousals.

Bringing the album to a mighty finish, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster is a rollercoaster of virulent rock ‘n’ roll with a sizeable line in pop rock and rockabilly infectiousness which as you would rightly assume is quite irresistible leaving the lungs gasping for air and a greed for more rushing back to the play button.

In many ways it is hard to say that Lowdown ‘N’ Dirty is particularly unique yet in the same way it is impossible to say there is anything predictable or previously well-worn about it. The Dukes Of Bordello have a sound and presence which is as fresh and arousing as anything out there and now an album which will firmly slap the band on the biggest rock ‘n’ roll maps.

Lowdown ‘N’ Dirty is out now physically through Death Or Glory Records and @ http://thedukesofbordello.bigcartel.com/product/skullduggery with its digital outing courtesy of Undead Artists Records @ https://undeadartists.bandcamp.com/album/lowdown-n-dirty

http://www.thedukesofbordello.com/ https://www.facebook.com/TheDukesBordello/

Pete RingMaster 28/06/2017

The Spaceballs – Self-Titled

Jun29

Recently when covering the new album from Bad Luck Gamblers we pondered how big and potent the psychobilly scene was in their native Brazil. Investigation revealed it is pretty good and growing and so it appears, going by the new album from fellow countrymen The Spaceballs, is the region’s rockabilly scene. Hailing from São Paulo, the band also recently released a new album in the shape of a self-titled debut which quickly had ears hooked and bodies bouncing.

Consisting of vocalist/guitarist Ale Marinho, double bassist/vocalist Marcelo Zarra, and drummer Jeff Billy, The Spaceballs have a sound seeded in and proudly showing inspirations from the likes of Stray Cats, Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, The Rhythm Shakers, Bill Haley, and Billy Lee Riley, essences all providing strong flavouring which added with the bands own craft and imagination makes for a refreshing romp. It is a proposition which mixes the familiar and new with tenacious enterprise and an open passion for the genre it embraces; an invention and energy openly fuelling their first attention grabbing album.

The album opens up with I Have Fallen In Love and quickly has ears relishing a classic rockabilly melody but one with its own magnetic nature as rhythms stroll and vocals add a harmonic caress to the senses. That Bill Haley essence is alive within the song, Cochran’s too but equally there is something of The Reverend Horton Heat to the swiftly magnetic shuffle and enticement of the song. In saying that, it also reveals plenty which is distinct to The Spaceballs, in tone and character which continues in the following Be My Valentine. With the clipping lure of beats and the vibrant throb of Zarra’s bass, the song quickly has feet involved and hips swinging, Marinho’s chords equally potent while entangling the song’s melodic boisterousness and country scented smile.

Showing an Elvis thrust of its hips, next up Rockabilly Ghost soon eclipses its predecessors, the song a mischievous tempting of melodic hooks, angular riffs, and lively rhythms as vocals play. As with those around them, you feel you know the song at heart but it never has expectations met as the song with a touch of UK band The Stargazers to it, flirts and swings with body and imagination.

There is a meatier air to Never Enough straight after, the track bringing a psychobilly edge to its bold stroll, a lining which expands The Spaceballs sound and invention as well as their imagination as the track twists and turns along its captivating length with sultry melodies wrapped in further sonic heat. That broader adventure of sound continues with Just Go Away, its mix of surf inspired melodic strands and old school rock ‘n’ roll flavours a magnetic enticement matched by vocals and the flirtatious rhythmic lure of Zarra and Billy.

Good times continue to insist and impress as I Will Always Rock, with more than a hue of The Shakin’ Pyramids to it, has the listener swiftly hooked on its compelling canter. Once more there is no stopping physical participation with the excellent track which is as fresh as it is familiar, traits and success employed and found as potently by Lost in The Desert with a resourceful and almost mischievous appetite. The closing track alone has all the qualities which make The Spaceballs sound and album a highly appealing opportunity for rockabilly fans to discover and explore something new. It also makes for another thoroughly inviting gateway into what seems a very promising and exciting not forgetting varied Brazilian rock ‘n’ roll scene.

The Spaceballs album is out now @ https://thespaceballs.bandcamp.com/album/the-spaceballs

http://www.thespaceballs.com.br/ https://www.facebook.com/thespaceballs/

Pete RingMaster 28/06/2017

Snakerattlers – This Is Rattlerock

Jun28

If ever there was a sound epitomising the dirty trespasses of the graveyard and the unbridled fetish escapades of cultish deviancy, it is that of British duo Snakerattlers. Like the occupants of those domains, the band’s sound is a lo-fi sonic trespass stripped to its bare bones but wearing the raw traits of a wealth of styles and flavours, all dirt sodden, feverish, and forcibly compelling. It is self-penned as rattle rock and is uncaged in full force within the pair’s ear gripping, spirit rousing debut album This Is Rattlerock.

The band is the creation of husband and wife Dan and Naomi Gott, previously of garage punk band The Franceens. Their new project, Snakerattlers unknowingly had its seeds sown when Naomi wanted to learn how to play drums. Going along with her to practices with his guitar, a sound and creative spark instantly caught their attention and thoughts that there was “the potential to be a lot more than just a rehearsal room jam band” in their exploration. What emerged is a fusion of garage rock, death punk, and psychobilly embedded into a rockabilly heart; a bold bare arsed roar of sound which now rips, rattles, and rolls the senses within the band’s sensational first album, a proposition recorded on reel-to-reel tape by Adam Richards of Leeds rockabilly outfit, X Ray Cat Trio.

Imagine the creative instincts of Link Wray, Hasil Adkins, The Cramps, Dick Venom, and The Creeping Ivies entwined and twisted and you get a flavour of the Snakerattlers infestation of ears and imagination. As mentioned, it is a raw and often scarring trespass which challenges and inspires whilst simultaneously thrilling and lustfully exciting from the opening seconds of first track, I Won’t Hold Back. The opener hits attention with a great guitar jangle initially, Dan’s vintage spice an instinctive lure soon joined by the punchy swings of Naomi as a Cramps meets Johnny Burnette like intrusion trespasses the senses and a swiftly established appetite. With the guitarist’s vocals an equally potent lure, the brief song prowls the listener, jabbing its lingering toxicity into the passions like a slow but determined tattooist.

The great start is continued by Let You Go where a thick almost throaty jangle is the tease into a more rampant and feverish stomp of swinging beats and tenacious riffs. Old school rockabilly infested by current day garage punk devilry and a plague of hooks which refuse to relinquish their hold of the imagination, the track is a roaring addiction within one listen, an eternal nagging thereon in but equalled by the more controlled but just as scuzzy exploits of Rattlerock Rumble. As a jungle of rhythms ensnare feet, guitar exploits use hips like a puppeteer in the predominantly instrumental incantation before Oh My Love lurches into view with a dark swagger and clamorous nature though both are wrapped in a restraint which only adds fuel to the song’s magnetic fire. Like Johnny Carroll meets The Novas, the track is pure bewitchment with an occasional venomous bite.

Let The Devil In Your Soul is another encounter which stalks the senses, its keen but controlled stroll belying a predatory nature taking swipes through the poised but examining beats of Naomi and the angular clamour of Dan’s guitar. With his vocals a soothing but equally volatile enticement, it is again impossible not to be hooked on the song’s seduction or indeed in turn on the more tempestuous instrumental rumble of Death Valley Driver which follows. It is an unrelenting road trip which has the body in motion and thoughts conjuring, both aspects again busily employed by the cinematic suggestiveness of The Love In Me. Like a sweaty kitchen sink drama, the song is a bare and honest hug of sound and emotion, its lines fuzzy and touch raw and oh so tempting. Even so, the great song is still eclipsed by the breath-taking stomp of Sweet Sixteen; a scuzz ball of rock ‘n’ roll woven from the decades of the genre and delivered with a fried electricity and concussive energy which leaves the senses reeling and blissful.

The zombie crawl of Bones infests the psyche next; its lumbering tenacious surge into the imagination littered with rhythmic bites and viscerally sonic waves as Dan’s vocals alone coax and prey. Once more submission to sound and album is swift and full leaving the final track to cap an already done deal between band and certainly these listeners. Ripper Rattle Rock simply lives up to its name like a fractious yet salacious fusion of The Cramps, Hasil Adkins, and Into The Whale. The track is rock ‘n’ roll in its unfussy prime but equipped with all the primal lures and seductions you could wish for as the album comes to one glorious unsterilized raunchy conclusion.

With The Franceens coming to an end earlier this year, the York pair have the time and energy to solely concentrate on Snakerattlers and they are going to need all of both if This Is Rattlerock catches the fire of attention that it simply deserves.

This Is Rattlerock is out now through Moon Skull Records @ https://moonskull.bandcamp.com/releases

http://www.snakerattlers.com/about.html https://www.facebook.com/snakerattlers/

Pete RingMaster 28/06/2017

Buzzkillz – Scum Of The Earth

Apr18

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