Posercrusher

Truth be told, I'd never heard of this band when I picked up their album in the clearance section of Amoeba music, but, as fate would have it, it was buy three get one free, and nothing else was looking particularly good. Neither did this, in fact, I put this album down several times, hoping there'd be something better in the next rack. Since nothing materialized, I slumped my shoulders, sighed, picked it up again, and proceeded to the checkout. Now I was the proud owner of the first Drünken Bastards album... whoever they were.

Despite having picked up many records that day, I decided to put this album in my CD player first, figuring I had spent nothing on it, and had nothing to lose by trying it first. 30 minutes later, I realized there was nothing coming out of my speakers. The album had flown by and I'd hardly heard any of it. I ejected the disk and resigned into my shelf, doomed to collect dust for all eternity... or at lest until the next time I cleaned out my collection.

I've re-listened to this album a couple times since, and drawn similar conclusions. The music doesn't leave much of an impression, the guitars sound like they're being synthesized through an MIDI program (imagine the music from the original doom game), the bass is standard punk faire, and the drums are technically proficient, but sound fairly one dimensional. The Vocals are interesting, being a mix of traditional punk sneering and black metal rasps, and while there aren't any real innovations in the lyrics, the combination of two totally different styles is interesting, at the very least.

The songs are pretty straightforward, and can be frustrating. It seems that every metal band that touts some sort of "Punk" influence, always takes that influence in the form of three chord, derivative riffing, and never from the more ambitious, musically expansive sides of the various lesser known punk bands. Don't get me wrong, I like my G.G. Allin's and my Anti-Nowhere League's as much as the next guy, but it's kind of grating when you realize the riffs on this album have been written a hundred different times by various garage punks. It's high time that someone set the record straight, and alerted bands like Drünken Bastards that punk has more than one riff.

Still, it's hard to fault a band that's having so much fun. Everything about this album reeks of empty beer can's, moldy garages, and four guys just sitting around listening to their old record collection. It may not be musically ambitious, or even particularly musical, but it's certainly an album that can be enjoyed while in the same mindset as the folks who performed on it; and there's nothing wrong with that, whatsoever. Just don't expect high art.