Frenzal Rhomb – The Cup Of Pestilence

This is the tenth album from Frenzal Rhomb and guess what, I may have heard 1 or 2 in the past, I know this is not what you want to hear from someone who is just about to give you the lowdown on this release, but truth is, I find it rather refreshing when you get to hear something that has not been played to death by said reviewer, it makes for new ears that might actually not constantly harking back to what said band have done before.  Anyway, that said, this is a band from Australia you know (but there is a definite USA thing going on in the recording of this), so maybe I can be forgiven for not being a groupie or the like.

Punk Rock is what they play anyway, and they do it pretty damn well too, but then 10 albums in, you might have hoped this was the case.  Lets bomb straight into this mighty 19 track beast of an album, with the first banger for your ears bring the wonderfully titled ‘Where Drug Dealers Take Their Kids’, which has a back drop of hardcore rock that kinda pops up here and there within the odd song, regardless of this, its a much less satanic offering than even the album title hints at, in fact this can be a bit of a red herring in some ways, unless find ‘Dead Mans Underpants’ to be on the satanic side of medieval.

Being that this was a recording that took part under the watchful eye of the monster that is Bill Stevenson (a drum monster is what I’m referring to, before he finds me and kills me), you can fully get this in the mix and speed that it drives along at.  Songs like ‘Dog Tranquilizer’ and ‘I Think My Neighbour Is Trying To Kill Me’ do kinda feel like they were recorded at the speed of sound yet have every single note and beat meticulously placed.  But then the ear worms that you find in the likes of ‘Instant Coffee’ and ‘Tontined’ show that this is not just a hard edged piece of modern history being played here.  It’s an album full of serious shit that takes the bad with the good, still shows how anything can be sung about, not always to be taken too seriously, but still have an impact on how you think.

I read somewhere that this might be the album of the year, well I would maybe not go that far, but then you might, this is where personal choice comes in. What I will say, when you hear a song like ‘Old Mate Neck Tattoo’ no this is a song of the year in waiting.

Full of wit, full of lunacy, full of normal life stuff, full of punk rock, not so full of shit that’s for sure!

Out on 7th April via Fat Wreck Chords

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