Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA Insanitizers - Dark Surf Collection
 | Well, this is one aptly titled disc. Surf transmuted through gigantic metallic darkness, as if Ozzy was from Malibu. Lots of very interesting and engaging tracks here, with plenty of surfisms amidst the mayhem. |
Picks: Surfin' The Stars, Invasion Of The Mektoids, Head-Spin, ADHD, Flamenco Fret, Ghosty, Masked Man, Orderguy, Hot Sauce, Undertow, Pipe-Wipe, Sugarplum, Puppetor, Lost In The Third Dimension, Fowl Ball, Forbidden Extremity
Track by Track Review
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Heavy and tortured, "Surfin' The Stars" reminds me of a very garagy Get Wet. Heavy, swirled distortion, intense playing, and a relentless caught in the soup feeling. This is definitely short board surf.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
"Invasion Of The Mektoids" is a lumbering dark twango exercise in danger and outer space cadets. You can imagine the Berzerkers on one of their more twisted nights. Quite demented.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
If "What Ever Happened To Eddy" was less flippant and flighty, it might have been like this. There are glissandos and intense guitar lines. It grows on you despite your best effort.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Demented stereo throbbing guitar keeps you off balance as you are assaulted by the almost bumble bee vibrations. The manic energy and intense edginess really convey what it's like to be ADHD. Quite amazing!
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Dark and murky, and flamenco in a tortured thrashy metal kind of way, "Flamenco Fret" is a menace to the silence. Yikes!
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Whoa! Demented guitar lines, deep dark wah-wah psycho noise, and a true sense of being insane. "Ghosty" most certainly unbalanced in the most creative way.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Rossini's "William Tell Overture" is all grodied out with big distortion and weird stereo guitar. Big thunder and energy like The Lone Ranger only wished for. Wow!
Orderguy Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
"Orderguy" opens with a one-sided phone conversation about ordering captured from an internet sales outfit. The lads were so taken by the message, that they tried to express it musically. It drifts into a lumbering circular jam. Dark, but not too interesting.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
This large and unhappy number lumbers while avoiding anything that could be confused with socially acceptable behavior. It's a bit jammy, but doesn't descend into the disinterest that usually generates.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Surf whammy chords, slight references to "Pipeline," and intensely twisted guitar effects. This is a giant among strange surf epics, with demented tone and just plain uncomfortable noise. naturally, i love it!
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
You might imagine this is a merger of "Wipe Out" and "Pipeline." It a twisted way, it is just that. You get a sense of both without being very derivative. Quite insane.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
I don't know what to say here. "Sugarplum" is an almost normal song, with references to Tchaikovsky's "Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairies." It's raucous, annoying, and thoroughly delightful. The thickness of the sound is at odds with the dreamy source music.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
You can imagine a throat singer calling to "Puppetor." The music is "The Worms Go In, The Worms Go Out," and every worm you every knew is lumbering toward you. It makes Alfred Hitchcock squirm.
Lost In The Third Dimension Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Big and thick, "Lost In The Third Dimension" is a more or less regular surf instro that's been strained through an intensifier. Whammy and twang and a dangerous tube. A bit thrashy, and very large.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Link Wray style chicken pickin' and glissandos and a barnyard in turmoil. "Fowl Ball" is loud like Link liked to play, and very intense.
Metal Garage Surf (Instrumental)
Really nasty, grode guitar plays a circular riff against a dangerous metal drum beat. "Forbidden Extremity" is dirty and very compressed.