A Review By: Keith Schmieden
The debut album from Newcastle, NSW trio Howlin’ Rats.
‘Boogeyman’ kicks off with a doomy intro riff before morphing into some sleezy, swampy blues, with an almost hypnotic chorus, and some really effective, low in the mix, backing vocals. Next up, ‘Vixen’ shares quite a similar bluesy feel (without the backing vocals). ‘Two Pacs’ is a different beast altogether. An ode to giving up smoking, this slower track, with a repetitive two note guitar riff, drags (sorry) you in slowly, until you’re hooked (a bit like the way ciggies dig their claws into you really). Great harmonica work in the chorus.
The instrumental ‘Toohrnbing’ starts off like a laid back Red Hot Chilli Peppers jam, building to a rocking out crescendo.
Starting side 2, ‘La Mia Memoria Nera’ (My Black Memory) has female backing vocals complimenting singer Harry Hobbit in the verses, before he is left to his own devices on the Queens of the Stone Age-y chorus. Really cool, 70’s doom metal ending.
‘The Parade’ is a short, sharp, harmonica based boogie-woogie instrumental, that’ll get the whole crowd dancing when played live. ‘Been Too Long’, is built around another dirty blues riff, with some great guitar and harmonica duelling.
Closer ‘Buchinsky Part 2’ is a swirling, spacey, trip of a song that seemed to me, to be finished before it had even started – I wouldn’t have been upset if it had lasted twice as long as its, almost, 5 minutes. And that pretty well sums up this album as a whole – it left me wanting more.
A minor quibble, but perhaps the first 2 songs could have been sequenced differently on the record, as they are quite similar.
I do need to shout out the production which is clear and crisp - the odd ‘Hiss & Crackle’ (the name of Mitch, the guitarist’s, record shop in Wallsend, Newcastle, and the record label that has released this album) when listening through headphones (although I didn’t hear them when playing through speakers), which for mine, actually added to the old school blues charm of this album. It’s also worth mentioning that the quality of the packaging, including a flat piece of heavy wax, and a couple of inserts, is first class.
