Bombat Belus "if you Like us it's nice..."

(Self Released 2015)

The Whole World Will Be Dead! (Intro)

 Bad Moon Rising

 Bombat Belus Syndicate

 Wir Sind Die Roboter

 Kimuś

 I'm So Lonesome Baby

Może Kiedyś Innym Razem

 Małe Piwko Z Kolegami

 Bad Wild West

 So Tragic!

 Biedna Psina (Remix)

Merciful Jaysus, typing out those Polish song titles took a lot of concentration! Now to sit back and relax to the soothing jazz-funk sounds brought to us on this, the second album from Bombat Belus. Ah yes, it's the stuff that exudes gentle finger clicking whilst wearing your beret and sipping herbal tea on your veranda overlooking the tranquil meadow glistening in the sun; almost as if it's a green ocean as the cool breeze gives the magical illusion of waves shimmering to and fro...........no wait! Is it fuck. It's pounding in-your-face psychobilly is what it is. It's the stuff that exudes being pummelled in the wrecking pit whilst wearing your steel-toe boots as you spit neat whiskey out of your bloodied mouth by way of offering a medicinal pick-me-up to the mass of fallen bodies on the dance floor.  The boys sway slightly more towards the more punkier side of psychobilly as is evident by their inclusion of bass guitar as opposed to double bass. There are a couple of covers on here that I can't get enough of. I usually don't harp on about individual songs when doing these reviews but fuck me, their versions of Bad Moon Rising and I'm So Lonesome Baby have been on repeat for days. So there are some obvious rockabilly influences floating around in the loins of the band too. There's certainly an undeniable Meantraitors influence going on which I can hear in the guitar sound. This is quality stuff from the Polish purveyors of the peculiar. Next time though guys, release an all-English language album so as I don't have to spend 4 hours typing the song titles!! 

(The lads released this album themselves and in very limited quantities so, get in touch with them directly from the links at the end of this if it's not too late.)

The O'Prez

BOMBAT BELUS ON FACEBOOK

BOMBAT BELUS ON BANDCAMP 
HELLACIOUS HARMONIES ON FACEBOOK

The Test Pilots "Deadly Rhythms"

(Street13 2015)

Blues In Zest

Deadly Rhythms

Cheap Rumance

Far Beyond Hell

Quality not quantity is order of the day on Sweden's trio of nimble-fingered ne're-do-wells The Test Pilots début EP. They're no strangers to the scene mind you what with their connections to Joe Hellraiser And The Graverobbin' Bastards in a previous life. The boys have released a couple of videos prior to this release which immediately peaked my interest. For a while there those videos were getting more views than my usual fare over on Pornhub. Such teasing little minxes. Aaaaanyway, I finally got me clutches on the EP and had a box of Kleenex at the ready in anticipation of the forthcoming sexy sounds. God I love aural sex. The lads are one of those bands that are on the borderline between neo rockabilly and psychobilly. The vocals are definitely leaning more towards psychobilly with the guitar sound being very reminiscent of The Blue Cats "The Tunnel" era material...especially their (The Blue Cats) "Man With A Mission" song. The Test Pilots are a lot ballsier though. The guitar solos are every bit as enjoyable as the melodies in the songs...and as memorable. Tony is an amazing guitar player. Obviously a LOT of work went in to crafting these songs. Excellent drum fills and bass lines turn the whole thing in to a very tight ensemble of sounds. Back to those vocals, when I say leaning more towards psychobilly, I don't mean it's all demonic growling (ie...shite!), I mean Matt has a raspy voice which suits psychobilly perfectly. Put simply, they can sing, they can play, they write their own fantastic songs...what more could you want? Maybe a bomb under Simon Cowell's car to send cunts of his ilk a message that this is where the REAL talent lies. But no one gives a fuck what they class as talent anyway. The Test Pilots = Talent.

The O'Prez

THE TEST PILOTS ON FACEBOOK

(Use the above link to message the boys and buy the EP directly from them)
Hellacious Harmonies On Facebook

The Wreck Kings "Wrecking Machine"

(Crazy Love Records 2015)

Desert Haze

The Walking Dead

Blinded

Pesadilla

No Man's Land

Kiss The Ground

Machines Will Walk The Earth

El Demonio

Gotta Go My Way

Madhouse

Get Down

Real Wild Rockin' Cat

El Mariachi

Farewell

The German mentalists are back with their second album. If you liked their début 2010 release 'Under Pressure' then you know what to expect. It's the same hard-edged psychobilly, bordering on punk'n'roll, but with better production values and the lads have obviously honed their skills too as is evident in the song structures. Apart from the slap bass, there isn't much evidence of any rockabilly to be found. It sounds to me like the boys are of that later generation of psychobilly outfit that came to the genre via the punk route as opposed to the rockabilly one. They're like a more vicious sounding Peacocks with a twist of America's Hayride To Hell. It's a tough sound which thankfully doesn't rely on theatrical "put-on" vocals to get that across. They're certainly not a psychobilly band of the "fun" variety so to speak. They're more of the "kick you in the face" variety. Tales in the form of song guaranteed to put a scowl on your face.

The O'Prez

The Wreck Kings Official
The Wreck Kings on Facebook
BUY THE ALBUM!

Astro Zombies "Frogs Legs"

(Crazy Love Records 2015)

Frogs Legs

Alligator Man

Use My Axe

Zombie Now

Fish Fingers

Monster Stroll

Go Out!

Crazy Monkey

Burlesque Show

Mad

Attack Of The Green Farts

The Creatures

Be still my restless nipples. Today my postman forcibly shoved his big package through my slit and left me feeling like the happiest boy in Ireland. For inside was the brand spanking new album from the French connoisseurs of slaptastic rhythms the Astro Zombies. But enough gay innuendo. I'm a fanny-man me (Americans, over here that's the front bottom). Anyway, Frogs Legs...what a cracking fuckin' album. The aforementioned cuisine may not be my favourite culinary delight but I am partial to a fish finger so thanks Astro Zombies for including some on your menu of auricular fancies.This is psychobilly with oodles of billy. The way it should be. The slap bass is relentless. Unlike a lot of psychobilly though, it's not predictable. Yeah it's 3 guys with a guitar, double bass and drums singing songs about stuff that would be more suited to the pages of Viz than any deep and meaningful tome but it sounds fresh. That can't be an easy task what with the genre being now over 30 years old. That's the best thing about psychobilly though when compared to its rockabilly relation. There are no rules so inspiration can come from anywhere or any other musical genre. But Jaysus the boys are on top form here. I have all their previous stuff in my collection and all too often people, or indeed the band, will claim their latest release is their best work yet. Well, this is. The artwork for the packaging suits the sounds on the album perfectly. Clean and clear. The songs on here have the rare trait of reverberating through your skull after you've finished listening. For years there have been a handful of releases that have become classics of the genre. In years to come this will be one of them. Je aime les Astro Zombies. Did you see what I did there? I'm on a roll! ....or a baguette......I'll get me coat :(

The O'Prez

The Astro Zombies Official

The Astro Zombies on Facebook

BUY THE ALBUM!

The Diggerz "A Psycho's Tales"

(Crazy Love Records 2015)

Intro

Forgotten Son

Breakout

Fresh Flesh From The Graveyard

Dreamgirl

Hangover

BBQ On A Lost Island

Jealousy

I Want Her

Set Me Free (Live)

Hailing from Essen in Germany, this is The Diggerz début release (even though they've been together for 5 years, the lazy bastards) on everyone's favourite record label Crazy Love. Without even listening to the music I immediately tipped my hat to them for the their usage of the correct punctuation in the word "Psycho's" in the album title. Yes, I am that anal (ooooh matron) when it comes to grammar. So, having been filled with glee and merriment from the offset, I proceeded to place my sextastic headphones over my manly ears and have an aural perusal of the sounds emanating from betwixt....oh for fuck sake..I don't half talk shite. I put on me headphones and had a listen to the album, right? What immediately struck me (well, after I completely ignored the intro) was the crisp, clean production that I love. Many albums have good songs but shite production. This has good songs coupled with erm....anti-shite production! That's right. It's the ANTI-SHITE! My favourite instrument of all time, the slap bass is right up there in the mix, the guitar sound is clean with bits of twang and reverb where necessary and not overdone. The drums are snappy and crunchy. Great so far. Will the vocalist piss on the whole thing? No. No he won't. HOORAH! I hear traces of Pitmen vocal stylings in his voice. Before I go on, I'm not going to start making comparisons but I'll make one more. Vocally the band are Pitmen-esque and muscially, Gorilla-esque  (but cleaner sounding). Now, back to The Diggerz sound itself and leaving aside possible influences and getting back to these vocals, fuck me what vocal range. Mo is one of thee best singers the psychobilly genre has to offer. The backing vocals are spot on too! When paired on some tracks it's almost like listening to Joy Division with quiffs. Also, you can't second-guess where each song is going. Unique melodies abound. The hardest thing to do now is pick a single track to stick up on YouTube for you to sample the greatness of this album.

The O'Prez

BUY THE ALBUM!

The Diggerz on Facebook

The Diggerz Official

Grave Stompers "Black Leather Ghouls From Fiendsville"

(Crazy Love Records 2014)

Grave Stomp

Borgo Pass

Getting On

Cemetery After Sunset

Awake By The Moon

Black Leather Ghouls From Fiendsville

The Spook

Phantom Rock

Black Bat

Rockin' At The Boneyard

Wraith Undead

Nocturnal Graveyard Mysticism

I think this is the fourth album from the German psychobilly stalwarts. I have three more anyway and I'm always right. It's a mixed bag musically with some of the songs having somewhat of a Cramps vibe to them in that they're dark mid-tempo compositions but with more of an emphasis on the billy rather than the trash. With that said though, the tracks on here would have blended nicely with the stuff to be heard on the Blood On The Cats series of LPs from back in the day. Actually they would have blended better than half the shite they stuck on there that shouldn't have been on there in the first place. It's not all doom and gloom though, well it is, but with more of a slap-happy neo rockabilly slant and of course psychobilly on other tracks. The album title and song titles really sum the whole thing up. You know exactly what to expect. It would make the perfect accompanying soundtrack to a 1950s B movie horror flick. Well, one that would have been immediately banned by the censors. 

The O'Prez

Grave Stompers Official

Grave Stompers on Facebook

BUY THE ALBUM

 

 

The Violetz "Hate You!"

(Crazy Love Records 2014)

Cruel Psycho Girl

Hate You

Perfect

Boy Like A Dead

9099

Crumblin' Tone Boogie

Dynamite

Monster March

Burn Into My XXX Kill

Crazy Rat

Never judge a book by its cover...or in this case a CD. I was expecting punkabilly with the emphasis on punk with fuck all billy and a female singer that sounds like all the rest (maybe even bordering on masculine as is their wont in a genre that oozes aggression). However, it's twangy, slap bass heavy psychobilly with a big nod to (neo) rockabilly fronted by female vocalist Rena who thankfully sounds female! And she can actually sing!! Sweetly!!! She can rip it up too though. A crackin' début release from this Japanese trio. Looking further at the pictures of the band in the booklet, I was probably hasty in my initial impressions. All that leopard print and quiifs-o-perfection do indeed give you a fairly spot-on impression (did you see what I did there? Leopard print? Spot-on?) of what to expect musically. Maybe I was subconsciously swayed by the fact that most Japanese psychobilly bands are speed merchants with a harder, punkier sound. The Violetz are the exception to the rule though. 50% psycho and 50% billy. Just the way I like it. And yes that is a cover version of the Fairground Attraction ditty...and yes she does hit the high notes at the end. Happy days at chez O'Prez.

The O'Prez

The Violetz on Facebook
BUY THE ALBUM!