Go back to the early days of horror movie noir and the shady people you see in smoke filled bars and pool halls. The lackies all slam beers while the "leader" drinks whiskey from the bottle. Listening to Bloody Hammers' record "Under Satan's Sun" is like watching all the above. The sounds, tones, and the vocal style is down-right spine chilling. The rhythm guitars are muddy, but clear - Ultra distorted, but the notes are comprehensible.
Here's what I'm talking about: "The town that Dreaded Sundown" is a story of a killer in old west times (complete with saloon style piano in the background). You become part of the townsfolk locking doors and closing the shutters. As the beats get faster, so does your heartbeat."Spearfinger" chases you down a dark alley, while "Death does us Part" leaves you longing for suicide to meet your dead partner in hell. A Twilight Zone moment can be found here in "The Moon-eyed People" - the buzz of the guitars is like the engines of a UFO. "Second Coming" is short, sweet and a bit sacrilege for my taste.
We get more thriller overtones in "Welcome to the Horror Show" and "Under Satan's Sun”. (Actually God created the sun - see Genesis ch.1 vs. 3-5)This song has a Blue Oyster Cult feel to the lyrics (ala "Burnin for you") and is sung a bit more melodically. (Two thumbs up, there!!) If you haven't heard of Psycho-Billy, it's like Rock-a-Billy, only more psychotic. That's what "Dead Man's Shadow on the Wall" brings to the table. Again, the movie in your head keeps reeling. You're in a castle with others as you're being cursed by a phantom and there's no place to hide. Take the old school Batman riff, grunge it out and make it macabre to get the vibe of "Last Alarm". You claw the walls trying to hide from this song - You turn the corner and just like "Jason", it’s right there, waiting to scare the hell out of you! "The Necromancer" rounds out the fright fest with spooky keyboards and electric mud.
I have always dug unusual vocals in music. You know, Peter Gabriel, "Snake" from Voivod, Richard Hell and Tom Verlain of Television, Les Claypool (Primus) and this guy Anders Manga (of who's band I'm reviewing...) The way he changes his style to fit the songs is what's missing in today’s modern music. I like the 90's grunge feel mixed with goth and classic rock (Alice Cooper/ Black Sabbath) - speaking of - I do like the way they use distortion to sound the way they want it to and not to make it sound like someone else.
For these two dudes (Anders Manga: Vox, guitar and bass/ "Devallia" on organ) they make some good noise. I don't know who plays drums, but it's NOT a machine, I'll tell ya that.
When I think of this band, the lines from a Dangerous Toys song comes to mind: "Hey man I think I like being scared and I wish you all were there." So I wish you were here to share this adventure in fright with me. But for now I give these guys a big fat 8. I was overwhelmed by distortion, but I dug the song-writing and the vocals. The solos were good and not overplayed.
Tim Duran, HMS
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