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England’s freaks of the week and then some, Teenage Casket Company,
have just released a six-song EP called Eat Your Heart Out
as a follow up to their debut CD, Dial It Up. The gents toured
the east and west coasts in the U.S. this past summer, and are back
touring the hell out of their homeland.
The band consists of unique personalities who bring their own flavor
to the overall sound. Lead singer Rob Wylde is the charismatic frontman
and rhythm guitarist who plays a cultured counterpart to the somewhat
snarky but talented guitarist/singer Jamie Delerict. On their first
release the duo wrote most of the songs, albeit Delerict only wrote
one of the six on this EP. He got his druthers by taking the lead
vocals on their D Generation cover of “Hatred,” though.
Laney 74 (surely his baptismal name) is a glam looking and glam influenced
bassist, and on drums is an extremely gifted machine called Mike Hollinshead.
Together, these guys can make some memorable music …
“Don’t Look at Me Like That” begins the EP, and it
has that pop catchiness you’ve come to expect from the band.
Nothing on this CD is quite as pop as “Beautiful” off their
debut, but this one is close. Lyrically, it’s an outcast song,
offering up sound bytes like, “Well I don’t want to sit
around going grey and crawling around … just give me something
I can feel.” The riffs are heavy and low, but the lead guitar
from Derelict is melodic. Except for Hollinshead, you’ll never
hear the band go batshit crazy on their instruments, and Wylde always
sings with an accessible and melodic delivery, and surprisingly offers
a bit of an Elvis Costello twang at intermittent moments. (He was
compared to Ron Keel on another review once, so go figure …)
“Cocaine” is up next, a longer and deeper construct than
the first track. You know the women have to dig these guys, especially
with Wylde crooning lines like, “Do you need someone to hold
you and say the things you need to hear,” at them. Hollinshead’s
fills are impressive as always, but the richness, the overall completeness
of the track is what makes this song a winner. Even though this is
just an EP, you can see the band is improving in all facets compared
to their first release.
Hair ballads rule, and when you hear “Believe in You,” you’ll
remember why. Like all good ballads of this type, it begins with soft
acoustic guitar, and just vocals. The chorus is smart, with two-part
harmony, and the song builds after the second verse into a full-blown
electric track. The crescendo is effective, and the chorus itself
forces you to sing along. In a live setting, this song could turn
every man and woman into a whore, at least until the song stops.
They end things with a Delerict composition, “Eat Your Heart
Out,” and you know he wrote it because he has to chuck in a swear
word by word six. Don’t argue with success. This has a punk edge
to it, which is surely Delerict’s bailiwick. This has the first
real shout-along chorus, with the band yelling, “Hey! Here’s
your Hell to Pay! Cuz there’s no other Way!” The guitar
solo is the fastest and meanest on the entire EP as well.
There are a lot of bands of this ilk who are struggling to set themselves
apart. The only true way to do that is with your music, because style
over substance just won’t last. Teenage Casket Company takes
nothing seriously except their music -- it even says "All songs
arranged properly and in a sensible manner by TCC" on their EP
-- and their new EP is an inspired actualization of said deconstruction.
In other words, they kick ass, their music kicks ass, so buy this
today so you can kick ass too.
www.teenagecasketcompany.com
Track
listing:
1. Don't Look At Me Like That
2. Cocaine
3. Hatred
4. Thankyou For Nothing
5. Believe In You
6. Eat Your Heart Out
HRH
Rating: 8.3/10
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