Hang Ten

Ghoul are a really fun death thrash band and this is a fun little EP. Why are Ghoul fun? Because they have character and quirks and don't let a sense of humour get in the way of writing some of the best darn riffs you'll ever hear. Why is Hang Ten fun? Same reason, but I'm going to explain it a little more. You see, Ghoul have a kind of storyline going on behind most of their albums, which involves themselves (or whatever they imagine themselves to be) and the kind of kooky, anarchic world that Terry Pratchett brought to life in his Discworld series. The lyrics get pretty involved at times, as do some of the characters - leading to stuff like voiceovers, narration, and a couple of sound effects - but it never stops the relentless pace of the songs, nor the invention of the four-piece. Hang Ten does all that in short form, and mostly instrumentally too, which you'll probably find unbelievable if you haven't listened to Ghoul before. On which topic, why the hell haven't you?

Only two songs out of six on this 17 minute delight have vocals, and the title track pretty much just shouts "Hang ten!" a few times without explanation, even if the voiceover on 'Sidehackers' has me searching my brain for who the character is (it's Snake from The Simpsons, would you believe?) and the motorcycle revving that follows the cry of "Cannibals - ride!" on the opener works as a pacesetter for a mostly frantic set of tunes. I want to talk about 'Kreeg' first, since it's both the most normal cut here and also probably the standout. Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste guests as a vocalist for a manic 10 second verse, though it's quite hard to tell who provides the lead vocals, given that all members of Ghoul have been known to sing, growl, shriek, and slobber over the riffing in the past; in any case, the rambunctious sidecar ride of a song introduces the titular character, who's "got a cobra for a cock and some wrought iron balls" if we can trust his own account. The music itself is a kind of gasoline-soaked thrash that leans close to crossover on the turns and also up-tempo groove metal that's totally awesome - sort of like Rob Zombie if he snagged one guitarist from Overkill and another from deathly thrashers Sacrificial Slaughter, to whom Ghoul could be compared, trading surf guitar breaks for the sacrifice.

I'm not being deliberately confusing by talking about Sacrificial Slaughter and surf guitar, since it's Ghoul's premise to confuse us by mixing genres that have no right to be put together; for example, the kind of droning country melodies and frantic death metal that leaves the longest cut 'Blood on the Street' veering between lethargic and manic. Some of the briefer pieces head in a more melodic direction, 'It Was a Very Good Year' especially sounding quite celebratory, mostly jamming on a theme and sending the EP off in spirited fashion. What really sets Hang Ten apart though is that for most bands this would be a throwaway release of instrumental odds and ends; for Ghoul, this is pretty much as entertaining as a full-length, if one concedes that less time is spent on heavy riffing and more attention paid to splicing ideas and creating vignettes. How they do this stuff is beyond me.