Review: Heavy Baby Sea Slugs – Teenage Graveyard Party

I promised myself this year I’d make more time for listening to bands I’d not come across before; after all at gigs some of my now favourite bands were the support acts. Hands up, I was totally guilty of the “This band sounds right up my street” line when I was handed out this EP for review. Followed by the words sludge-punk, I was totally sold. Before I took a listen I thought I’d research a bit, the usual social media sites came up with nothing… and I mean nothing! This all became quite clear as I opened the press pack and read the band’s story so far…

Let’s get one thing straight: We’re only writing this because we have to, because we’ve been told it’s the right thing to do, to move on up in the industry. Fuck that shit. We’ve never been the kind of band that does things the right way, and that’s why three and a half years into this ride we still don’t have a goddamned band Facebook or band tweeter. We have better things to do than talk about ourselves.

So, two fingers up to the system and this stonking, sixteen minute long EP is belched from the underworld set for release 21st January.

Explosive opening track “King Midas of Shit” is as brutal as they come. A rampant, supercharged,  hard rock sound is thrust in your ears at breakneck speed. Snarling vocals leave you in no doubt of the intention of the song even though most of the lyrics are indecipherable. Guttural and raw, I couldn’t wait to hear what the rest of the EP had in store.

Therefore, when title track “Teenage Graveyard Party” started, I had a mini panic attack; adrenaline quickly fading from what I’d just experienced. I was beginning to wonder why the sudden tempo change although it was nice to appreciate some vocals. I had nothing to fear, one minute in and there’s a sudden deluge of frantic drumming and lightning riffs that build into a torrent, and an onslaught of sound pursues. Heart racing again, this band are beginning to really excite me.

“Pit Bait” is probably my favourite track on here. You can’t fail to relive your favourite pit moment listening to this track. It has something for all rock music lovers. Multi-layered, the riffs are as dirty as they come, layered with an angst in the vocals, empathy with the lyrics, we’ve all been there…

Lengthy EP closer “Zero-One” is a 6:44 minute long instrumental track. Heavily distorted guitars – this is about as sludgy as it gets. It doesn’t quite take off for me, like an intro into… well, a black hole really. Like I’ve accidentally stepped into the rehearsal room and the band are just jamming, I enjoyed it nonetheless but it’s the kind of piece that would sit far better on a live set or full album rather than an EP track. But these guys are all about going against the rules, and I admire that.

Heavy? Yes. Dark? Pitch black. A bit like a hardcore, adrenaline-filled party of doom! I will certainly be checking out their back catalogue. Just finishing a tour in Japan, this band from Texas are now on my playlist. I will be first in the queue for tickets if they come to the UK.

Teenage Graveyard Party is released on 21st January

Heavy Baby Sea Slugs: bandcamp

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments