Horrorpops--Hell Yeah!
Poppy punky rockabilly.
Packaging--
The good:
This CD has perhaps the most appropriate artwork I've seen in a while. It's a bad idea to judge an album by it's cover, but just by glancing at this you should be able to have a fairly good idea what this will sound like. The booklet has lyrics in a very easy to read layout as well as a band photo and thank yous. It works nicely. Also, Patricia, the vocalist on the cover, has one of the coolest looking basses I've seen.
The bad:
I don't care for "digipaks"...what happens when the plastic teeth that hold the CD in place break? Other than that, this has got nice artwork, so no complaints.
The music:
The good:
From what I've read it seems people either love this or hate it, and most reviews I've read haven't been kind. I'm in the minority I suppose. I think this is great. Fast, catchy, rockabilly inspired tunes that you will know the second time you hear them. Vocally, we have an above average job. Patricia can definitely carry a tune and never over or under sings. I have been told she sounds like Siouxsie, which I sort of hear but you definitely won't confuse her for Siouxsie.
A couple songs on here could easily be Cramps songs. I hear a bit of Ramones influence scattered about (though name a punk band where that's absent). A bit of surf rock, a bit of rockabilly, it's a nice mix. I have heard comparisons to No Doubt�that's bullshit. This is nothing like that.
The bad--
This is pretty poppy...I think many punk and metal snobs wouldn't give this a shot because of this fact. Some of the songs fall short�"Girl in a Cage" for example. The second half of the album really doesn't hold up to the first half. It's not "bad" but it seems like they began to run out of steam. Though I am a fan of the vocals, I can see them getting a bit irritating. Finally, a concern I have about this release both in artistic and musical style is that it is pretty trendy and I really doubt this is going to age well. Sadly, a lot of music coming out these days isn't "timeless" so I can't criticize too much, but I just see me breaking this out in ten years and wondering what we were thinking.
Recap�
I dig this a lot. That being I said I would have to suggest to look up a song or two online before diving in. This is on Hellcat, so you should find easily and you should find it cheap. It's worth checking out.
Review by Chris