You just can't keep a dead girl down. There was no more room in Liverpool. Zombina and the Skeletones walk the earth once more.
Death Valley High, the band's second full-length release, is a pop-flecked horror-punk masterpiece. Imagine you're watching a Troma movie, something in the vein of
Class of Nuke 'em High, only it's an album, and you're listening rather than watching because you're not an idiot.
Things kick off with
The Kids are All Dead, a rocking up-tempo number powered by solid garage-punk beats and backed by some explosive synth/bass interplay. It's a beast, frankly. The next few tracks throttle back a little as we're introduced to our heroine, Janie. Turns out she's a social outcast with a crush on an evil scientist …
We're taken through a few twists and turns—60s surf and doo wop to name a couple—before reaching a climax with
Your Girlfriend's Head, one minute and fourteen seconds of chaotic synth skirl and percussive ferocity. You'd be hard pressed to find a better song about decapitation. The album's not spent yet, however, saving the best for the excellently-titled
Janie's Got a Dissolvo Ray. It's a neat summation of what makes Zombina great—the way they effortlessly meld punk energy with pop hooks while sounding a thousand times better than any pop-punk band you care to name. Choruses that are catchy without being grating. Energy that's infectious rather than tiresome. Songs that are fun without being shit.
Production values have improved immeasurably since the last album, but at times it does still sound rather like the band are playing inside a large bin. This is a minor gripe, though, with an otherwise astounding release. Zombina and the Skeletones are one of the most exciting, enjoyable and relentlessly inventive bands on the face of the planet. At times they sound like The Beach Boys crossed with The Vampire Beach Babes, at times more like
Braindead meets
Barbarella, but they're always entertaining.
Death Valley High is released on Monday, 11th of December through Ectoplastic Records, and is now available on iTunes via the band's website. Go on—make it a Transylvanian Xmas this year.
http://www.zombina.com/
Zombina
-Kaylyn-
