With 2003’s
\nScandinavian Leather<\/i> settling the inevitable question about
\nTurbonegro’s ability to maneuver past cult hero status, the title
\nof this month’s release —
\nParty Animals<\/i> — lends the nitwitted notion that the band
\nfeels their previous effort was the blue ribbon achievement to what
\nis largely a superb catalog of full-length recordings. I can’t say
\nI agree, as
\nScandinavian Leather<\/i> was neither the shocking nor humorous
\nsuperior of the four Turbonegro albums preceding it. Truthfully, I
\nnow find
\nScandinavian Leather<\/i> packing the same punch as a lukewarm
\ncup of decaffeinated coffee.<\/p>\n
But, with that album spawning a new crop of fans, as evidenced
\nby the countless backing tracks MTV has given the band on shows
\nlike
\nJackass<\/i>,
\nViva la Bam<\/i>, &
\nWild Boyz<\/i>, these six Norwegians have been forced to further
\ncut the homosexual & NAMBLA-istic overtures framing past songs
\ncontributing to the band’s legendary deathpunk heritage. Let’s just
\nsay that today’s “Blow Me (Like The Wind)” is no “Rendezvous With
\nAnus” in both shock value and more importantly musicianship and
\nleave it at that.<\/p>\n
Obviously, it’s sad to say that with increased public exposure
\ncomes the heightened responsibility of conformity. Maybe that is
\nwhat Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy once meant when he sang that “Nobody
\nRides For Free.” I guess Pearcy’s intent doesn’t really matter as
\nParty Animals<\/i> is an album flirting with mediocrity even
\nmoreso than its predecessor, in being further handcuffed by the
\nfact it has no real schtick to fall back on. To live by the
\nschtick-sword, one must die by that same blade.<\/p>\n
While tracks like “All My Friends Are Dead,” “Babylon Forever”
\nand “Death From Above” impress musically regardless of lyrical
\ncontent, a track like “City Of Satan” reeks in its attempt to cop a
\n1980s-era KISS vibe with a lot of what remains on the album failing
\nequally to inspire. Another big reason that some of the tracks on
\nParty Animals<\/i> get really tedious is because guitarists Rune
\nRebellion and Knut Schreiner (aka Euroboy) change their guitar
\ntuning into more of an obvious pop flavor such as what is found on
\nthe track “Stay Free.”<\/p>\n
Thankfully though,
\nParty Animals<\/i> does pull off some old school trickery in
\ncrafting the best song on the album, entitled “If You See Kaye.”
\nYou don’t even have to hear the track to get the gist of the type
\nof songs that the band was once capable of frequently producing .
\nIf I am losing you at this point, go back and chant the title of
\nthis song 10 times fast. Actually, if you are English speaking and
\nit takes you more than one chant, move along, as Turbonegro in past
\nor present tense is probably not for you. To the point, this song
\nshines in anthem form with the obvious chorus set to several upbeat
\ntiming sequences.<\/p>\n
As much as I’d like to celebrate the advent of having another
\nTurbonegro album in my mitts, it’s not going to happen with this
\nnew breed of party animals. Not unless, of course, it happens to be
\nat a club hall on Turbonegro’s next tour where fortunately the band
\nstill puts on one of the best rock shows going these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":27046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6829],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-38372","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-turbonegro","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38372"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}