The Cursed Bastards "Dead Head"

(Crazy Love Records 2018)

Psycho Train

Dead Head

Misery & Bliss

Demons Scream Tonight

Tequila Mockingbird

Me Not The Human

Armageddon

Six Doors

In Her Eyes

A Perfect Night To Die

 These Californians first came to my attention back in 2015 with their 'A Perfect Night To Die' EP. If you missed out on that release, then not to worry, it's included here for your delectation. The lads are no Johnny-Come-Latelys having cut their teeth in The Cigaratz, Stop Breathing and the Deadbeat Sinners. So this is their début album and it comes on CD and vinyl, the latter of course will please all the snobs like Dave Acuna over on Psychoholic. The boys have a solid psychobilly back beat with melodies that are more akin to punk. Not screamcore shite though. The catchy variety with substance. Add to that some raucous backing vocals and harmonies and you have The Cursed Bastards. Usually I'd whack in a few comparisons to other bands to explain meself better but not this time. The Cursed Bastards are very much their own machine. This is the kind of album that takes a few listens before you make your mind up. It took me a few listens anyway. It kinda creeps up on you. When you get past the initial power and aggression of the music you discover there's some fine virtuosity involved and you'll find yourself singing along (or in some cases shouting along) with the choruses. As I finish this review and remove me headphones the songs are still reverberating through me skull. 

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Pope Paul & The Illegals "Start Gettin' Serious"

(Dial Back Sound 2018)

Up In The Clouds

Altered State

Let's Ragnarok

Start Gettin' Serious

Heartsick On The Road

It Wasn't Enough

Demented Swing

Sugar Spots

Off My Chest

Santa Ana Flu

Rip It Off

The prep-work that went into this review has been above and beyond the call of duty. Apart from adding photos and text and stuff...it took me 15 minutes to get the shrink wrap off the CDs. So who are these lads then? If you look beneath the surface of the household names within the psycho/rockin'/roots scenes there are bands aplenty to be discovered. Santa Ana's Pope Paul & The Illegals are one such combo. The trio formed in 2014 and this is their third album and the follow up to 2017's The Dial Back Boogie. That album was a rompin' stompin' honky tonkin' rockabilly rouser. It also had hints of what was to come on Start Gettin' Serious in that in places it was hard to pigeon hole the sounds into any particular genre. This is what the boys' new album is all about. You just don't know what you're going to get. It's a sonic box of chocolates for which you've lost the inlay card that tells you what's what. One minute you're chowing down on country, the next sleazy rock'n'roll, then garage-esque psychobilly straight through to high octane rockabilly. The confusing shower of bastards! The thing is though, it works! People not in-the-know often ask me how can I only listen to one type of music. I don't. Rockabilly and psychobilly may be the basis but then they have an extended family of all manner of inbred mutants to keep everything fresh. So, I actually have eclectic tastes....rooted in primal rock'n'roll. And that sums up exactly what's to be heard on Start Gettin' Serious. Now as if the pain in the arse of that shrink wrap wasn't enough, I now have to go add a load of links at the end of this so you can get your hands on some Pope Paul & The Illegals swag. You can buy the CD version directly from the band on Facebook or stream/download from the links below. They really are a shower of bastards, not just confusing ones.

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Pope Paul & The Illegals on Spotify

...bloody hell, just Google "Pope Paul & The Illegals Start Gettin' Serious"..FINE...I'll do it for you:
Pope Paul & The Illegals Start Gettin' Serious

Gutter Demons "No God, No Ghost, No Saints"

(Stomp Records 2018)

Psychotrons

Ravenous

Cold Call

Devil's Hand

Damage Case

Faith

D.O.A.

Ghostrider

Bad Blood

Roadkills

Hell For Leather

Merciful hour has it really been three years since Unfinished Business? Well it has. GET OVER IT! Ahem, anyway, the trio of Montreal aural-molesters are back with their fifth album. It'll be released on November 2nd but I fall under the "really great guy" category in their pamphlet of "Fuckin' Hell We Love These Guys" so I have it now. I really am great! Now then, I've given this album a few listens and whereas the classic psycho instrumentation is there, to my ears, this is a more rock'n'roll Gutter Demons compared to their previous output. Proper underground ant-airwaves rock'n'roll. It's too testosterone-fuelled for the airwaves. Your average DJ wouldn't know what to do with the hairy-bollocked blasters on this album. However, I've always loved the boys ability to pull off a dark ballad too and the track 'Faith' is another Gutter Demons slam dunk that'll have the ladies' flaps giving them a round of applause. Other than that relaxation break though, this album really is an onslaught on the senses. It's the kind of thing that should be playing in the background during a dive bar brawl. It's boiling over with hard man attitude and swagger.

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