Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Autopsies "A Memoir From The Morgue"

(Killjoy Records 2016)

Autopsy
Rumble
Roswell

First of all, I want to thank The Autopsies for being so considerate as to write single-title songs which drastically cuts down on the amount of time it takes to type track listings. However, typing a paragraph of thanks has just ruined the whole thing. Thanks for nothing The Autopsies!
But anyway, out now on Killjoy Records, this Los Angeles trio have unleashed their first platter upon the inhabitants of the psychobilly underworld. As usual with Killjoy, there's a variety of colours. Good auld black and limited copies in clear, yellow and red vinyl. Kicking things off is Autopsy, a mid-paced (by psychobilly standards) stomper of a tune that blurs the lines between growling psychobilly and velvety horror punk. A winning combination. Tempo-changes aplenty too. Brandon has a fine voice which he changes when going between the aforementioned genres. I prefer his natural voice as opposed to the more raucous psychobilly one. But that's just me. Rumble is a reverb drenched instrumental with equal parts great guitar, slap bass and drums. Roswell is very in-your-face American psychobilly. What I mean by that is, to my well-honed ears I don't hear much of an influence from the early European psychobilly sound. It has that harder US edge akin to Los Gatos Locos. The slap bass sounds great on here which to me is an essential ingredient which very often gets drowned out in the mix. The lads seem to be influenced by punk just as much as by psychobilly/neo rockabilly as the sound does cross over melodically in to punk territory more than psychobilly in parts. But not too much. It never ceases to amaze me how tough looking fuckers like The Autopsies can be such talented musicians. If you saw em on the street you'd think they'd be more likely to mug you than serenade you with a song.

The O'Prez



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