Reviewed by Rob Slater
Released: 1981 Slander Hemi-Conscious Genre: Hairy Heavy Metal Punk - Sound Of Aberdeen 10 Years Before Nirvana! ;-) Rating: 2.25 out of 5 (Probably higher if you’re an actual punk fan) Highlights: House Of The Rising Sun I'm A Believer Not especially my jam, but better than Astrë and Panache. (Oh, and they’re Canadian, eh.) Practically a live recording. Very sparse with aspects of “That 80s Canadian Sound” I’ve been trying to describe. I was realizing that I could probably just contrast it with Spector’s Wall of Sound. This is more like Canada’s Window of Sound. Or maybe the Cat Door of Sound? ;-) Track 2: Jailbait, you’re so great. Yeah. Sadly it’s the longest of the 15 songs at 3:21. Two covers. Punkishly quick. The Chuck Berry cover is better than 8 Days a Week. This so reminds me of the crap we would do in my first band. We played everything too fast, without the excuse of intending it to be punk. ;-) We just couldn’t keep a steady tempo. Our drummer would start out fine, but every verse got faster, but not in a particularly interesting way. ;-) They somehow make some 2:22 songs sound long. Okay. A punk cover of the House of the Rising a Sun isn’t bad. I think it even helped me like the next one more than I would have. Again, it feels like this was all recorded live, and that by this time they’d gotten into a groove. “I’m A Believer” is good as well. The covers are more fun and memorable than their originals. I know the Clash did punk covers of pop tunes, I think I would like these guys if that’s all they did. Sadly, the coolest thing about this album is the title: HEMI-conscious. The cover has a late 60s Mopar (Pymouth Satellite or GTX, or Dodge Coronet?) painted black with a legendary 426 Hemi engine in the foreground. I thought it was really cool until I realized they’re all aiming sledgehammers at the car and the engine. Well, except for the guy with the punk-mullet who is playing with his shifter knob.
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