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Lou Siffer And The Howling Demons: The devil's ride
03/03/11 || cadenz
Like the famous saying in the most wonderful country in the world, Finland, goes (freely translated): “First I was like, what the hell, but then I was like, what the fuck!?!” That’s about my reaction to this self-released debut album by the hilariously named Swedish group Lou Siffer and the Howling Demons. For more laughs you can check out the stage names carried by the bandmates (hint: at the bottom of the page). Very…creative. I did laugh, of course, when I first read and heard these puns. You should as well.
So what about my Fennomanic reaction? Well – first I was like, what the hell, this disc sucks like a vacuum cleaner the size of a black hole. Then, after spinning it again just to be sure, I was like, what the fuck!? This isn’t too bad. I know, crazy bananas. “The Devil’s Ride” is filled with testosterone-filled rock in the Mustasch/Volbeat vein, with lots of punk influences and also some country, blues and boogie stuff inserted in the fold. Groovy riffs that are half catchy and half ripped-off, sing-along choruses with naive lyrics, gang shouts, songs about booze, sex and violence, a howling vocalist and a fucken harmonica – all drenched in a gasoline-induced aura. No. They’re not as innovative with their music as they are with their stage names.
The momentum is carried forward by frequently syncopated riffs in mostly tempos in the range of upper mid, and the energy level is constantly high, which is good. A rock record needs to be pushy and shovy, laid-backery is reserved for other genres, or as on “The Devil’s Ride”, the couple of songs that set the metronome to a slower beat. A good example of this is closer “Love, Sex, Death”, which happens to be one of the best tracks on the disc.
I’m not a huge fan of the vocalist K. Oz (haha) as his voice is somewhat unstable and off-pitch at times. Some work needs to be done on his support muscle usage. But, as with other negative quirks such as the juvenile guitar solos, cheesy lyrics and slight conformity of the tracks, after a while you start listening past them. Your ears’ in-built filters start working and spare you from the most atrocities. (Insert reference to first paragraph.)
If you’re looking for a booze rock record, you might give Lou and his minions a chance. I sure ain’t recommending this to anybody else though – this is a record with a single purpose. Rock out with your sock-on-a-cock out.
- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Self-released
- Website: www.lousiffer.com
- Band
- K. Oz: vocals
- Kahn Ibbal: guitars
- Gil Youtin: guitars
- Lou Siffer: bass
- Ray Zår: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. The Mosher
- 02. Love Song
- 03. Bleeding Through
- 04. Legend
- 05. Evil
- 06. 1-2-3
- 07. Gasser -55
- 08. Killing Is Fun
- 09. Under Attack
- 10. Kahn Ibbal
- 11. Love, Sex, Death
