The 1981 Listening Post - Gaskin - The End of the World

 Gaskin - The End of the World

#358

August 1981

Gaskin

End of the World

Genre: The Metal Band You Never Of

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Despiser

I’m No Fool

It’s early 2000s. 

I’m thumbing through the music section of Chapters, a now defunct book chain in Vancouver. 

I see a book that says, “Buy me. You’ll like me.” 

It’s Sonic Cool: The Life and Death of Rock and Roll by Joe S. Harrington.

It’s thick. It’s not the best researched book I’ve ever read but it resonates. 

Harrington seems to find every opportunity to mention a couple bands that I’ve never heard but one he keeps coming back to are The Hellacopters, a throwback rock outfit from Sweden fronted by Entombed’s drummer. 

High Visibility gets played so often in my apartment they neighbors start to ask me to play something else. 

So I play Grande Rock by…The Hellacopters. 

And then I move on to Supershitty to the Max by…The Hellacopters. 

And…you get it. 

I bought the late guitarist’s spinoff band’s album, Thunder Express. And I reviewed their follow up for an online service. 

I love The Hellacopters and I have a soft spot for Swedish rock. 

Gluecifer.

Flaming Sideburns.

Sewergrooves. 

Gaskin isn’t from Sweden. But those bands remind me of this record and I fucking love this record. 

I’ve never heard of this record until now but I would have played the shit out this psychedelic infused boogie metal if I still had a turntable and lived in that apartment. 

This is New Wave of Heavy Metal, emphasis on the heavy but it’s not banshee level annoyance like all those “witch/wytch” bands. 

It’s bands like this that Spinal Tap will skewer but, there’s a reason for that. If they didn’t exist, there’d be nothing to mock. 

Devil Horns, baby!

https://music.apple.com/us/album/end-of-the-world-no-way-out/202191779