Matchless – Pills And Blades

When Montreal psychobilly greats The Gutter Demons called it quits, Matchless served as somewhat of a spiritual continuation in local style.  Upright bassist Flipper’s legendary contributions made for an experience that helped their debut full length feel more like that of an established psychobilly act than newcomers.  For a first outing, Matchless was set to impress with Randomly Generated Numbers.  Then the Matchless camp fell quiet on new material, and front man Frank put his efforts into establishing Falsetto Music Agency.  Part of this was actually aiding The Gutter Demons in their rise from the ashes, spawning a whole new album, and reclaiming their psychobilly throne.  

So where exactly did this turn of events leave Matchless?  Ready to step out of the shadow of their idols and gass up with a brand wholly as their own!  With the addition of drummer ‘Mad Max,’ and Flipper only occasionally playing live shows (newcomer Carl Upright of The Matadors now fills his shoes in the studio), a new lineup and day has dawned for Matchless.  The result: Pills And Blades, a sophomore full length with plenty of flames and exhaust ready to tear up the psychobilly circuit.

More heavily splicing their psychobilly roots with a hard rock n’ roll core, Matchless make Pills And Blades one hell of a high octane ride.  Peppered with likenesses to Motorhead and Black Sabbath alongside their typical Gutter Demons lineage, the band makes good on their dark, distortion-heavy personae from the get-go.  “Lightbearer” opens as an eerie guitar-only intro with the slow crawling, simple country-twang of clear reverberating chords.  Transitioning directly into the hard-toothed swagger of “Afterbite,” the band lays down a heavy boot stompin tempo propped up with crunching guitar work and thunderous upright bass.  Those previously familiar with Matchless will notice the clear shift to somewhat more punk n’ roll overtones, but any initial discomfort is easily dashed upon the realization that frontman Frank’s performance and songwriting fits this shift better than ever.  His vocalizations range from atmospheric spoken word intros and bridges (“Damn Right”) to aggressive, throaty bouts of anger propped up by “woah-oah” bolstered choruses (“Voodoo”).

Pills And Blades unravels across a full spread of tempos, sustaining interest and engagement across Matchless’ dark toned tracklisting.  The band does a great job of featuring of Carl Upright’s rich bass work without allowing his thumping to entirely dominate the album’s song structure.  For instance, tunes like the title track and “One In A Billion” feel like tried and true psychobilly rompers, whereas those like “Rise” and “King’s Ransom” feature Frank authoritatively growling against a wall of mid-tempo hard rock riffs.  “You’ve got to break out of these chains son,” belts Frank, stepping back with a swagger as they transition to the bass-heavy beat of neighbouring track “Grace.”  And of course the underlying punk influences stand tall in speedily executed, toe-tapping runaways like “Anger Incorporated” and “Thirteen.”  Of particular note, a familiar underlying country twang resonates faintly as in past efforts, shaping the chords of songs like “Further Down Below” in the vein of Long Tall Texans and Raygun Cowboys.  

Pills And Blades is a familiar but very different album than 2011’s Randomly Generated Numbers.  While their debut full length owed much to The Gutter Demons’ legacy, Pills And Blades more fully realizes a hard-rockin punk-n-roll feel that Matchless can be proud to call their own.  Armed with harder riffs, livelier rhythms, and improved vocals, Matchless return to the psychobilly scene with the top down, engines revved, and sights set squarely on delivering an unforgettable ride.