InMusicWeTrust.com
Jeb Branin
The most intense band on Epitaph is back for a second round of punk rawk mayhem and aural abuse. Outlawed in communities all over the world for violating...
The most intense band on Epitaph is back for a second round of punk rawk mayhem and aural abuse. Outlawed in communities all over the world for violating noise pollution standards, ZEKE are a stellar example of everything that is right with hardcore. They are blazing fast, notoriously abrasive and have no idea whatsoever what the word "subtle" means. They rip through their music like a rabid pit bull in a litter of kittens and leave twice as much carnage. The music is violently convulsive and sounds like THE RAMONES would if they were a thrash band. All great hardcore vox are raspy and raw, and so are these but underneath all the screaming is a set of classic whiskey soaked rock 'n roll lungs that add a dimension missing in most lesser bands. I realize you would have to be wealthy to buy every CD I recommend in any given issue of this rag but believe me when I say you gotta put this baby at the very top of your list.
MysteryKitchen.net
Dr. Calculus
Call me a rock heathen, but the first time I really heard Zeke was when I picked up this album. I heard they wrote a lot of songs about cars, which kind...
Call me a rock heathen, but the first time I really heard Zeke was when I picked up this album. I heard they wrote a lot of songs about cars, which kind of turned me away for a while. However, after hearing about them from just about every fan of trashy rock 'n' roll I know, I decided to give Dirty Sanchez a try.
For the record, the record's title is in reference to a sexual "finishing move." I'll leave the rest of the discovering to you.
"Let's Get Drugs" kicks off the record. Put the Dwarves and the Circle Jerks, lock them in a van and drive it off a cliff. The ensuing explosion would probably sound like this song--- short, fast, loud, and nasty.
The rest of the record maintains that sound and attitude. All the comparisons of these guys to the Dwarves are dead on. "Razorblade," coincidentally dedicated to the Dwarves, sounds just like Blag and the boys did on Blood, Guts, & Pussy or Thank Heaven for Little Girls.
Zeke sounds like the Dwarves' bitter younger brother. The older brother already has a name for himself, so the younger brother has to do a little something more to set himself apart. Where Blag's vocals were extremely sleazy, but not necessarily straight-up menacing. Zeke's Blind Marky Felchtone is just fucking scary. At times he sounds like an angry metal vocalist. In fact the whole band can get a little metal every now and again. Not bad metal like Ratt, but good metal like Motorhead.
Also, Zeke keeps their songs with the word "fuck" in the title to a minimum. We can't really say that for the Dwarves now, can we?
Zeke also sends out a tune to the Murder City Devils. "Liar" has the band mimicking the guys they dedicate this song too. It's slower than most of the stuff on the record, and has that eerie, dirty sound that the Devils have come close to perfecting. Zeke don't do it too shabbily either.
The most hysterical moment on this record comes on the bonus track. It's a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Rhiannon." Shit, I thought Nicks was frightening enough as is, but Zeke's ringer of sleaze makes this tune even scarier. Fright factor aside, though, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a duet.
And the best part about this album? There's not one fucking song about cars or anything of the sort. Someone once told me Zeke can't write a song that didn't contain the words "drinking," "driving," "highway," or "fuck." They shot that theory to hell here.
After listening to this album, the only thing I can say is that I wish I had gotten into these guys sooner. Looks like another trip to the record store for me. Then again, my roommate has some of their records, and he's away this weekend. So if you'll excuse me, I need to go shopping.