Posted on: February 28, 2010 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Goons of Doom – The Story of Dead Barbie and Ghost / 2006 Volcom / 16 Tracks / http://www.goonsofdoom.com / http://www.volcoment.com / Reviewed 02 October 2006

“Dope City in the UK” introduces individuals to the vocals of Goons of Doom, and luckily, this track is quick. The melodramatic vocals of “Dope City in the UK” are modified completely for “Bikey Zombie”, a track that is much more led by Iggy Pop than anything. The instrumental arrangement present during “Bikey Zombie” is something that is tremendously influenced by the surf rock of a Dick Dale. The falsetto vocals present on this track are a little annoying, but they make sense given the rest of the track. Ric Ocasek vocals are the soup du jour for “Broken Toe”.

The track has sixties as seen through the eyes of the eighties sound to it, even as the simplicity of the arrangements are a blend of the Beach Boys and The Replacements. The one thing that would help out Goons of Doom from the start of the disc would have to be the syncopation of a number of the tracks on “The Story of Dead Barbie and Ghost”. If about a half minute or minute were snipped off of each of these songs, the tracks would have a Ramones like urgency and the chance that Goons of Doom would have a dud on their hands would dramatically decrease.

With the style of rock that Goons of Doom are playing on this disc, there is no reason that they should be surpassing the three minute mark with any of their tracks. When Goons of Doom break away from the more classic style of earlier tracks and crank up the guitars for “VD”, this rule can be removed, but very few tracks have the teeth that “VD” have. For example, the title track meanders around for well over three minutes, and the guitars just do not have the fire necessary to keep individuals interested throughout its runtime. Just as is the case with the Hot Mute album reviewed tonight, there are just too many tracks on this album. What would help Goons of Doom out would be to cut four or five of these songs (the title track and “My Song” for example) and the resulting lean album would be much more impressive to listeners. I can understand the desire to have a ton of material for your fans, but the use of this extra material decreases when it is not the best that one can commit to a disc.

Top Tracks: VD, Fingered

Rating: 5.1/10

[JMcQ]

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