ShampoonOh fucking hell!

I’m writing this review on the evening of 8th May 2015. The election results are in and here in the UK it looks like we’re gonna be diving headlong into another five years of Tory buffoonery. I need something to cheer me up. Well, I’m off to Incineration Fest tomorrow where some of the best black & death metal bands in the world are sure to be plunging London into utter chaos…… and I’ve also got this CD by Czech DM nut-cases, Shampoon Killer. At first glance this is not cheering me up much to be honest….. actually that’s not entirely accurate….they have a song called….wait for it….. ‘Vidal Sassoon Wash & Gore’….. that put a bit of a grin on my face.

Maybe it’s because I’m a grumpy old fucker but I’m not a big fan of ‘piss take death metal’ (see my Bursa Lamb review…fucking space sheep indeed). I can tolerate Lordi. I like Steel Panther. But don’t fuck with thrash or death metal please!!! (no I don’t like Lawnmower Deth or Acid fucking Reign either). So that being said you can imagine my expression when this CD landed on my mat.

Anyway, this Czech sextet (2 x vocalists don’t you know) have been around since 2007 but this is their first release. They play a fairly basic but competent blend of death / grind which in places reminds me of Deicide –  ‘Burn Dance Halls Down’, others early Suffocation – ‘Metrosexuality’.  The music is actually pretty good with plenty of blasts and a tasty bass sound. On the whole the production is decent and the songs are all relatively short so you if you can get over the crap artwork and silly song titles you definitely won’t be bored. The dual vocal attack works well apart from the ‘pig squeally’ shite. (I hate that – fickle fucker ain’t I?) The riffing of Nikola & Prewith is really tight, fast and savage in places – the boys clearly know what they’re doing here and to be fair repeated plays have made me warm to the band a bit.

I just wish they weren’t singing about hair-dressing and discos!

Fellas – you’re all good at what you do and I reckon with a change of band name / image you could be head & shoulders above similar bands…..see what I did there?

(7/10 Mark Eve)

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