The Brains
Zombie Nation
(Stomp)
Website: www.stomprecords.com
Ah yes. Here we have it. Zombie-Billy. Now don’t get me wrong. I like rockabilly. A lot. And pretty much all the variants too. And there are a tonne of variants. Look them up. Montreal’s The Brains (not to be confused with the black American punk band Bad Brains) obviously like real rockabilly too. Deep inside their generic thump is a root thread of the genuine article. If you listen closely to their fourth album you can hear a dollop of twang now and then that cues you to the fact that this trio, especially when guitarist Rene De La Muerte (not his real name) lays into the single note solos, have done a little homework. Carl Perkins would be proud-ish. Sadly, when it comes to the so-called “psycho/zombie-billy” pose these guys lean into the faux gruesomeness just a little to heavily. It’s a musical scene that is widely replicated all over the globe and good on these native sons for making a name for themselves belting out what the kids want. It does all sound the same on “Zombie Nation”. Lyrically, it’s a wash since every song is about the same topic. Zombies…zombies and their lifestyle and how they kick ass and need to be dealt with, etcetera. Since we all know Satan is a pussy it makes no difference that these cats and their creepy, costume-sportin’ fans are out to get him. They can triple time their drumbeats and motorize their bull fiddle slaps to ninety miles an hour…it still all sounds the same. Nice cover art though and the “zombie” girls’ photos on the inner sleeve are cool. They would look even better if they weren’t pretending to be zombie slutz. See them live. It may work better than this album does.
No comments:
Post a Comment