The Jackalopes

Kentucky Fried Ritual (2016)

Johnathon1069

                Punk rock with horror and sci-fi themed lyrics has been a mainstay in punk rock since The Misfits put their first EP out in 1980. Since then horror-punk has taken on many incarnations and spread throughout the country. Throughout the nineties and into the early part of the new millennium, The Jackalopes were a mainstay in this scene and built a strong following throughout the Midwest. The band would split following the recording of their final EP Kentucky Fried Ritual in 2001. It would be fifteen years before the recording would see the light of day.

When any band shelves a project for over a decade, there are always concerns that it will sound dated in comparison to what has been put out in that time frame. It’s obvious from the first track, “Nitro Flesh Burning Funny Cars,” the band sounds as vital as ever. Incorporating elements of metal into their sound, as they combine car racing, melting flesh, and women into one fantastic fast paced song that shows they can tackle topics that were occasionally outside the realm of many of their peers from the same era.

“Good Clean Fun (Laundromat)” finds the band shifting gears just slightly, as they play an amped up surf/garage riff while singing about going to the laundromat to escape the frustrations of day-to-day life. Perhaps not your standard horror-punk fare, topically speaking, but deviations in music and lyrics are what help set bands within certain genres apart. And since horror-punk was all too often people trying to sound a Misfits cover band, having bands step outside of that not only adds to the bands overall appeal, but also helps keep the genre moving forward.

Closer, “Love is a Dog from Hell,” is about women who become zombies and the men who love and make love to them. With a great chorus of, “Love is a dog from Hell. Love is an embalming smell. My love is as cold as ice. It’s a mausoleum paradise,” that is so catchy I’ve caught myself singing it under my breath at work. The riffs on this song are catchy as hell, and when they use the bridge to slow the chorus down it sucks you into the song even more.

For being fifteen years old, this album holds up quite well. That isn’t to say it’s the London Calling of horror-punk. But rather to say it proves good song writing and music that is fun to listen to will always have a place in people’s music collections. While the band played their first show in over two years to commemorate the release of this material in early October, they been largely dormant for the past several years save for a few “relapse shows” here and there. But, as with all things horror, I’d say never rule out something new in the future. If it comes, I just hope it’s as much fun to listen to as this was.