Voodoo Glow Skulls

Symbolic (2000)

Andy

You can call them a comedy act, you can question the quality of Frank's Casillas' "vocals", you could just plain old call them shit. The fact remains that nobody sounds quite like the Voodoo Glow Skulls.

I like bands that try to be different, and I like this album. The great thing is that VGS can blend many different styles into one song and it fits together perfectly.

This album starts with 'We're back', featuring Mark Adtkins from Guttermouth on spoken introduction over a slow riff, which quickly explodes into a hyperspeed latino freak of a song, with Frank bawling his trademark noise. Whatever anyone says, his shouting does fit in well with the overall sound, i.e. crazy and a bit demented. Actually he even tries his hand at rap in 'The Drop In' and sounds at home over the tight too-disco-for-my-liking bassline.

Hey kids, remember those evenings sitting round the record player with the folks, shouting those irresistible choruses of "IT'S THE BAND GEEK MA-FIA!" and "INSUBORDINATION" ? Well maybe not, but if you know Voodoo, then you know that they do have a habit of sticking in one-line chant-like sections which are great to sing along to live. On Symbolic, it's 'The Devil Made Me Do It', which also features a very catchy guitar/horn riff to get your legs a-shakin'.

The tracks sung in Espagnol are pretty good too, assuming you can tell the difference between Frank's English and his Spanish. 'El Mas Chingon' ('The Big Asshole?" correct me if i'm wrong) is the best one and features that guy from The Reverend Horton Heat on guitar.The obligatory cover version is also included (this time as secret track) and this time it's the Bob Marley classic 'I Shot the Sheriff'. Seriously Bob would be skanking in his grave if there was enough space in the coffin.

Erm…anyway if you are a VGS fan you will love this anyway and it's probably their best yet (as long as you skip past the song 'Orlando's not here'. Urrgh). From my own experience some people are going to hate it from the start because of Frank but just give it a listen and you may be pleasantly surprised. Even better go and see them live and it might all click into place like a big Metalliska jigsaw.