COLL: Death Rattle & Roll - Vol. 1 (Wondertaker)
This is lots of (mostly) local punk, punk n’ roll & hard rock action the bulk of which is really good, no brainer stuff. Nothing terribly groundbreaking here but fun, basic stuff that invokes everything from AC/DC, The Dwarves, Gluecifer, Turbonegro, New Bomb Turks, Motorhead, Ramones & The Damned.
(((1))) - The Hydromatics - Uptempo, 2 chord punk n’ roll. Hella basic but pretty solid with stupid lyrics. Somewhere around AC/DC meets Gluecifer and Eddie Haskels.
(((2))) Bottles & Skulls - Super-fast punk like New Bomb Turks meets the old Dwarves stuff or early Supersuckers (aka: We wanna be the Dwarves). (FCC “fuck”)
((((3)))) The Grannies - Total Gluecifer-like vocals. $10 says these guys at least one record by The Hellacopters, Gluecifer or Turbonegro.
(((4))) Jack Saints - Big Motorhead-like bass intro snarling 3-4 chord punk rawness. Reminds me of the few & rare GOOD punk bands from San Jose in the 90’s like say, Bombs For Whitey.
((5)) Everything Must Go - Kind of annoying intro riff then launches off into a seriously unexciting mix of obnoxius drunk punk and a lightweight version of the Confederacy of Scum bands (ex: Rancid Vat, Limecell, Antiseen). (FCC “stupid shit”)
(((6))) The Nitwitz - Nice & tight 70’s UK punk riffage. The Buzzcocks with arena rock moves?
((((7)))) Ain’t - Awesome, rollin’ punk fire with killer female vocals. Very much in the style of the Gits ‘cept with some Angus Young worship in the guitars.
(((8))) Motorhome - Not suprisingly the first bits sound like Motorhead but the vocals are more swaggery, barfly punkish & the base of riffs are total AC/DC territory.
((9)) Midnight Bombers - Pretty uninspired vocals minus the OK backing choruses. Basic rock n’ punk stuff.
((((10)))) Jack Endino’s Earthworm - Jack Endino - now there’s a name you probably haven’t heard in awhile. Fuckin’ great Motorhead impression by way of Northwestern fuzz & wah-wah (aka: “real grunge rock” not that Smashing Pumpkins/Alice In Chains bullshit).
((((11)))) The Black Furies - Super Stooges/Dead Boys worship. Derrivative as fuck but good at that. Lots of guitar wailing.
(((12))) The Fleshies - Slow, sludgey fucked up like a faster Killdozer crossed with Schlong or the DKs.
(((13))) The Amputees - Strummy punk with good female vocals. Melodic punk/indie rock.
((14)) Reid Paley - Country/rockabilly strummer. So-so. Sounds like a joke song to me.
(((15))) Bottles & Skulls - Nice bass intro then loud guitars into a fast New Bomb Turks style attack.
(((16))) Dirty Power - Sludgy Black Sabbath worship. So much so that this pastes “Hole In The Sky” and at least 2 other Sab tunes. An instrumental that kicks ass on most stoner rock.
(17) Dirty Power - This one I don’t get - it sounds WAY too much like everything else on this album. I never thought I’d hear Zeke-light but here it is.
(18) The Hydromatics - Ugh! This is a warmed over Springsteen outtake!
(19) Everything Must Go - Kinda generic obnoxious punk. Everything in this BAND must go (away)!
(((20))) Jack Endino’s Earthworm - Twangy, all-round ramblin’, rollin’ instrumental featuring Endino solid guitar chops.
((21)) Midnight Bombers - Better than their previous track. Sounds like Zeke, Sub-Pop-era Dwarves and KISS on speed. Not bad but been done only 9 billion times before.
((22)) The Amputees - Mid-tempo punk/indie rock that doesn’t go too far.
((((23)))) Motorhome - More smashed up, 70’s punk n’ metal worship complete with cowbell break! . Solid stuff. (FCC “fuck 0:28)
(((24))) Jack Saints - Speaking of 70’s punk n’ metal worship - this is total AC/DC on a budget with some fast boogie action & bottles a’ breakin’. Pretty nice.
((25)) Black Furies - More Stooges riffing with so-so vocal presence. How many times has this been done before? Too many and this doesn’t bring anything new.
(26) - The Grannies - Please kill that cock-rock wank disguised as ‘punk’. Damn, this one suck-ass flat ‘quasi-grunge’ like a Nirvana reject tune. Would’ve been vaguely amusing in 1992 but now?
((27)) Reid Paley - A demented drunken Tom Waits style. Chorus has too many FCCs
((((28)))) Ain’t - Killer bass & drums intro. Fuck this band has a lot of that same bite that The Gits possessed. As Grand Funk used to say “Great singin’, great playin’”
((29)) Fleshies - What the fuck? They’re covering Rush’s “Working Man” then they go into a twisted raw, live sloppy mess of a tune.
((30)) The Nitwitz - Ex-pat Yanks now in the Netherlands doing some more Stooges/Dead Boys stuff that occasionally borders on the Replacements old stuff. Not bad but nothing spectacular either.
(FCC 0:05 “zip up my pants motherfucker, “punk azz mother fucker 0”20) ------------------------