Listening to a
Messer Chups album is like walking through a haunted house; you're never sure what's lurking behind the next corner. The Russian duo of Oleg Gitarkin and err,
Zombie Girl, return with another slab of twisted, sound-effect driven surf and garage rock guaranteed to turn heads as the soundtrack to your next retro Halloween party. There are scant credits so it's impossible to say if the many samples of what seem to be classic schlock horror movies are composed by the band or actually grabbed from old flicks. Regardless, the result will keep you entertained through all 18 cuts and 50 minutes. Five appropriately cheesy videos are also included, to be played on your computer. With the heavy
Cramps meets
the Ventures schtick, it would be easy for this to devolve into a repetitious cliché, and in fact tracks such as "Coffin Dolls" with its mournful cello behind fun house noises could have been left on the cutting room floor. But the band typically reigns in those tendencies. The tunes are short, tight and generally don't overstay their welcome, even if the album does start to lose steam in the homestretch. But before that it's a roller coaster ride of sonic lunacy featuring reverbed guitar careening around stripped down trashy surf rockers that only need
Screamin' Jay Hawkins' voodoo vocals as icing. Covers of
Henry Mancini's "Charade," "Music to Watch Girls By" (turned into "Music to Watch Zombie Girl By") and "Popcorn"(here titled "Popcorno"), none credited to their original writers, effectively bring
Messer Chups' warped spin on these oldies. Occasional whistling also adds to the weirdness. Turn down the lights, lock the doors, push play and wander through the band's campy B-movie world. ~ Hal Horowitz