Album Review

The band theprp.com called "a living, breathing rock ‘n roll nightmare" crashed the scene last year with the explosive Here‘s To The Life of the Party album, an eminently dancy slab of blasting rawk that had them sharing stages with kindred spirits The Blood Brothers, as well as These Arms Are Snakes, The Agony Scene and more. Containing ex-members of new-American-metal titans As I Lay Dying, the southern-California sextet‘s debut is a striking piece of work. Refused-ish, barely intelligible vocals courtesy of Tommy Garcia scream desperate, abstract lyrical tales over simplistic punk-fueled rhythms - this band, though on a label known in the past for metal and hardcore (thanks primarily to the massive success of AILD), is more in the punk/new wave vein, harkening back to the genre‘s beginnings. ‘Last Call‘ has the makings of a great single - or at least something to put on the ADD-friendly purevolume.com, with a memorable, three-note organ staccato to kick the tune into its poppy, yelping glory. ‘My Darling Mina‘ starts out sounding a bit like mewithoutYou, with some spoken-word action before it all escalates into a screaming ruckus, while on ‘Nothing Holy‘ Garcia won‘t be able to avoid the Every Time I Die vocal comparison, hollering without reservation on a two-minute hardcore blitz. ‘Short, controlled bursts‘ best describes Life of the Party, as most of the tracks clock in around that fun two-minute mark, propulsive and storming the gates of the late ‘90s-early ‘00 definition of ‘punk rock‘.

And to tide the kids over til the next full-length, PMGD put out Throw A Beat earlier this year, a five-song teaser EP that streamlines the band‘s raw sound with better production - by the same producer, in fact (Dan Meier). The ironically-titled first song, ‘You Gotta Tame The Beast Before You Let It Out Of Its Cage‘, is a forty-five second reintroduction to PMGD‘s brand of garage madness. ‘Seventeen Year Old Piece of Gold‘ brings back the female vocals that appeared briefly on their debut, but this time the atmosphere rings even more of the Blood Brothers, matching their sneering, snotty tandem singing, and ‘The Nine To Five‘ is proof positive that while they may have dropped the pace a fraction, Please Mr. Gravedigger are still a triumphant, jubilant rock and roll machine.

And find the hidden track buried at the end of Throw A Beat, a fun little bit of studio goofing that seems to be a narrative about one of the band members being attacked by a rottweiler! In an alley! Yes!

- Mike Postma

[Please Mr. Gravedigger] [Pluto Records]

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