A few weeks ago in the review of my new favorite fanzine Chips & Beer, I mentioned that there were some bands I'd never heard of and was looking forward to checking out. First pull of the lever and I hit the jackpot - Chicago's incredible Superchrist and their killer new album called Holy Shit.
Holy shit is right! How the hell did I miss out on these guys for almost 13 years?! The pounding riff that starts off the first song "Run To The Night" immediately made me think this was some sort of secret super group formed in 1982 with members of Raven and The Rods. It's not often that an album puts a strangehold on me and has me banging my head immediately but Holy Shit did exactly that.
Superchrist is a power trio and it seems like the majority of their influences are other metallic power trios - vintage Motorhead, of course, Tank and the already mentioned Rods and Raven. Discernable non-trio influences are Riot, Anvil and even some Bad Brains. There might be some Zeke in there as well to bring things up to date. The sound is hard as nails with the thundering drums of Ian "The Pit Viper" Sugierski way up front as if this was a Carl Cannedy production. Guitarist Hank Bitchlover has a dirty tone and spits out rapid fire riffs as if his unemployment checks depend on it. Chris Black handles the low end thud bass very Lemmy like and has a rough but melodic voice that's a mix of Lemmy and David "Rock" Feinstein. I really hope these guys love The Rods as much as I do otherwise this review is really gonna piss them off.
Songs like "Take Me To The Graveyard" and "Get Lost" remind me of the awesome Virginia band At War, another trio of Motorhead inspired dirtbags of a bygone era. "Burn Again" and "Black Thunder" are some of the more metallic, Venom inspired songs. "Beer Metal" is simply the anthem of the summer.
I listened hard to this album and really can't find any influences past Kill 'Em All, which is great for an old man like me. There are no weak songs at all on this platter. Ten blasts of scorching rock n roll this good was a rare thing 30 years ago and is basically nonexistent today. And there are eleven songs on the vinyl! Gonna make this review short so I can get started on make a tape of the album to crank in the car. Nobody touches this hurricane!!!
Buy from Hells Headbangers/album cover/stream the album
http://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=24728
--Woody
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