Kiss Kiss Kill Kill
The key to this record is found in the last track, a live version
of - oh-my-gawd, yes! - Billy Idol’s sneer-fest Rebel
Yell. Bouncing out of Denmark with a sound rooted in
psychobilly surf-punk and setting up shop in southern California
has proved an inspired move for the trio, who have successfully
re-created a note-perfect ’80s LA hair-metal sound. It’s the aural
equivalent of a Ralph magazine cover: blemish-free, every
booming drum, slapping bass and ripping guitar swathed in reverb
and Pro-Tooled to a sterile sheen. What saves it from descending
into Skid Row farce are the yelping, growling vocal stylings of the
tattooed Ophelia, singer-bassist Patricia Day. This is a nutty
concept album of sorts, subtitled “Twelve Tales About Love and
Murder”, and given that Day’s singing in English, her second (or
third?) language, the lyrics come across as stilted and comical.
Day, guitarist Kim Nekroman and drummer Henrik Niedermeier are
great players, bordering on clinical, and the only two outstanding
songs in a solid set are the title track and the wipe-out
instrumental Horrorbeach Pt. II (there’s no Pt. I).
