Chained Lace-Morbid Fascination

Heaven and Hell Records
2017

Chained Lace was a doom metal band from Washington, DC. that was active during the eighties. The group was lead by Cheri Blade (ex-Rat Salad) and featured members with ties to the D.C. heavy metal band Hellion. One of those members was Norman Lawson (guitars) who also played in the bands Bedemon, The Obsessed, Bitch, Overlord, and The Factory. This limited-edition compilation gathers together the two demos that Chained Lace released (1985's "Chain Lace" and 1985's "Morbid Fascination") and then adds in unreleased material. Named after the group's one demo, "Morbid Fascination" features re-mastered material and makes Chained Lace's music available on CD for the very first time ever! With the punk rock-like vocals of Cheri Blade (R.I.P.), Chained Lace was strikingly different than most doom metal bands of the time period. At times you can hear the Black Sabbath influences. Other times you can pick up on the influence of The Obsessed. That is the doom metal aspect of these DC doom rockers. Along with Cheri Blade's punk rock delivery, "Morbid Fascination" suggests Chained Lace's flirtation with everyone from Motörhead to The Runaways! As Loot FP properly puts it's on Heaven and Hell's digital page for this album, Chained Lace had a one of a kind sound that even payed homage to (early) Mötley Crüe! For their time period this four-piece band was in a world of their own making. It was a place where punk rock, garage metal, and doom metal all converged in order to give us kooky cool music like this. Thank God that happened and much kudos to Heavy and Hell Records for realizing the important nature of that event!   

The Giggitys-Songs In the Key Of Awesome

Loserheart Records
2014

For as far-back as anyone can recall (we're talking about the swinging-seventies at the very least kids) Cleveland and Akron have been involved in a ménage à trois with punk rock. As a matter of fact my home-state the of Ohio as a whole can lay claim to such legendary artists as Devo, The Dead Boys, The Cramps, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Rocket From The Tombs, Pere Ubu and electric eels. And that's just to touch upon a  few of the more recognized names to come riff rocking out of our ever-expanding scene! If you really want to see how deep down Ohio's punk rock roots go you should over to the following link (http://www.clepunk.com/bands.htm), but that's after we get done talking about punk rock's new darlings The Giggitys! Formed out of the blood and guts of legendary Akron, Ohio punk band The Nimrods, with Ric Nimrod himself handling vocals and guitars(!), this cleverly-titled band takes it's name from Family Guy character Glenn Quagmire's catch-phrase while their sound is old-school punk rock 101! Prior to this fun full-length album the band released a demo version of the pop-punk instant classic "Balls Deep In Love With You", but it's actually the Ramones-tinged "Not With You (Winter Moon)" that gleefully opens The Giggitys debut offering! But it's not just The Ramones that The Giggitys pay homage to on this ten-track album. Everyone from All to Zero Boys gets a subtle shout-out with "Songs In The Key Of Awesome" carrying on much of the same joyous racket as these top-tier punk bands once did! Fuzzed-out craziness is on full display with "Goodbye Cruel Girl" as is classic, mid-eighties melodic punk while "15 minutes" is the uglier side of yesteryear's crusty punk scene! Through-out the album the band effectively utilities background chants as easily as buzz-saw guitars with "Talk To The Hand" finding that sweet common ground between The Ramones and Sloppy Seconds! "Don't Think" is gnarly L.A. punk while "Take Control" has New York City written all over it! Craving punk that's a little snotty? How about taking "She's Gone" for a ride? This short and sweet number channels The Misfits just as easier as a few other songs here on "Songs In the Key Of Awesome" echo the likes of 7 Seconds and Fear! And speaking of snotty numbers do you remember that pop-punk instant classic "Balls Deep In Love With You" we were just chatting about? Yeah? Well here it is in it's glorious LP version and it's a total kick in the ass my friends! "Balls Deep In Love With You" (along with "Not With You (Winter Moon)" and this album's rabble-rousser closing number!) have all the hallmarks of classic scene of old all but transforming The Giggitys into tomorrows newest punk rock hero squad! What's more we find The Giggitys taking on the failed promises of yesterday as "Total D" is actually where a lot of us wish a certain "Dookie" band would have gone next (here's a hint, it's got grit and integrity unlike the modern day spank fest that is Green Day!). All of which brings us to this album's real deal of a closer and my new favorite love song, "It's Not Me, It's You". I can think of a few "special" ladies from my past who could benefit from this song's timeless message, but that's another story for another night friends! With it's splendid mixture of all things classic punk and modern day pop punk "Songs In the Key Of Awesome" is as good as it gets kids! Hear it right here ladies and gents: http://thegiggitys.bandcamp.com/album/songs-in-the-key-of-awesome

Sunken Monkey-Party Scars

Bumface Records
2014

Self-described as "pop punk/alternative/rock" and first formed in the early "noughties" (something which makes a tad more sense once you've danced around a bit to the music of these foul-mouth rockers!) we have Lancashire, England's Sunken Monkey and their upcoming new album, "Party Scars". Serving as the group's sophomore outing, "Party Scars" is the the follow-up to a 2009, self-titled release and for a band (guitars/vocals-Spindle, guitars-Rob, bass-Adam and drums- Hendy) which has apparently had more then it's fair share of line-up changes since first coming together there is a remarkable sense of consistency flowing through these gritty numbers. And speaking of numbers, "Party Scars" (with it's run-time of the 38 minutes) comes packaged with 13 songs. Since 13 has always been a favorite number of mine (what can I say friends other then I'm dark!!) I was delighted to see an album that filled that particular quota! But what of the actual music I hear you asking? How is it other then gritty and (as referenced above) danceable? Well, despite the "alternative rock" bit that came with the e-mail promoting the new album "Party Scars" is more about one heartfelt band drawing upon their influences (in this case NOFX, The Menzingers, Rise Against and Four Year Strong) and then transferring all of the energy from said bands into a band of their own making that is part classic punk rock and part classic (heavy) pop-punk. Vibe-wise we're talking about one band that has the whole old-school appeal down flat while the catchy music that makes up the bulk of "Party Scars" comes across as genuine and sincere. It's no wonder then that England's Sunken Monkey has developed a loyal local following! Whether or not the group's last release is as good as this one is the question (or at least my question as this release, so far so good, is all that I've jammed out to so far), but either way "Party Scars" comes recommend.

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