The packaging:
The cover has the band’s shadows lurking up a flight of stairs. I have been struggling to remember which movie this is from, but I have realized it’s an effect used in a lot of different vampire films…where the vampire looks human but the shadow is more demonic. It’s a very appropriate cover for a horror-rockabilly band. The packaging is a digipak with a fold-out panel that has lyrics. Under the CD we have the thanks and the recording info. It’s a nice looking package to be sure.
The music:
This disc has been out for a while and it's been on my "to review" pile longer than anything else. When I first got it, I felt disappointed overall...it just seemed like a dull album that they've done before...it just didn't grab me but I could say it was bad.
You can tell which albums I think aren't bad but I just can't get into because those are the weak reviews. I have been trying to avoid writing reviews for discs like that...keeping them in my "to review" pile until they become so old that it would be illogical to review them.
And this one is borderline...but I'll do it anyway.
I bought this and didn't like it...so it sat for months.
And now that I revisit it, I can't help but think---what the hell was I thinking? This is a gret album! Nekromantix play psychobilly, which for those of you who don't know, is a sort of cross between punk and 50s rock. Reverend Horton Heat may not have invented it (though I think he did honestly) but he definitely fine tuned it. Crazy guitar playing, upright slap happy bass, and sung/yelled vocals. The mood of the music is primarily upbeat but for whatever reason, horror imagery and lyrics are preferred by many of these bands.
Nekromantix is no exception. The songs are fast, upbeat, catchy, but then you listen to the lyrics and he's singing about your next door neighbor killing and barbequing his family or being attacked by zombies. The music, and this band, are just a hell of a lot of fun.
As with every release this band has had in the past, this has its flaws. There are filler songs on here that make the album hard to get through. The track about your neighbor barbequing people, while funny lyrically just isn't that great. The song after, "I'm A Shockstar" makes up for it...it's a great, very old fashioned rockabilly song that you can sing along to, but the filler tracks just keep the band as little more than a cool, fun whatever-a-billy band to being the best in the genre. A problem I noticed with this one is that just aren't many crazy songs as were on previous releases...no heavy, fast "Who Killed the Cheerleader?" type songs...instead you get a lot more just rockabilly, instead of psychobilly which is a shame but they do both well enough.
Another recent release of this style, Tiger Army's new one sits in my "to review" pile but luckily Mike has reviewed that for this site already and I don't have to...my review would not be nearly as forgiving. This one is far better...more in line with the band's past release...maybe not as good, not as "psycho" but it's still fun.
For fans of the band, you won't be disappointed...just give it a shot. For new fans of the band, start in the back catalog..."Curse of the Coffin" is good, "Return of the Loving Dead" is a classic...this isn't bad, but they have better releases that you should start with.
