Release Date: 6th April 2018
Label: Rural Rebel Rock Norway
Kosmik Boogie Tribe releases their third album We’re Not Here To Fuck Spiders.Coming from Oslo, their self proclaimed distain for the music scene there has led down an unusual path and sound from that area of the world. As you start to listen to this album you can imagine some of the tracks on this record being belted out in some dive bar in the Mid West, with a fight breaking out over a game of pool whilst Patrick Swayze round house kicks someone through the front door.
The opening track, ‘Creatures of Habit’, is super bluesy, rock and roll with a cranked tempo hinting at some of the more punk tracks to come later down the line. Its catchy chorus instantly warms you into this album and its a really strong opener. The second track is when Swayze steps through the door to see bottles flying about everywhere and proceeds to drag someone the entire length of the bar on their face. If you like your guitar licks, you’re going to swoon at the first minute of ‘Optical Migraine’ and the solo in ‘We’ve Got The Cash’. You cant help but groove along to these two, with the grainy vocals suiting the feel perfectly.
‘Looking Out For Number One’ is where the album starts to get more and more punky. Sounding like an early Offspring, this reminds me of simpler times of playing Crazy Taxi on Sega Dreamcast and just enjoying listening to angsty musicians whilst I didn’t have a care in the world. ‘Iv had enough of you’ would have definitely made the sound track if it had been around at the time. Therese some more stand out guitar work with driving bluesy baselines and a catchy chorus to boot. Some real personality comes out as it gets noisy towards the end of the tune, with the guitarist finishing off with every string mans warm up riff, Stairway To Heaven.
He was clearly warming up for ‘The Rat’ with an impressive guitar lick to open the song. This is a raw and catchy tune, probably overly simple vocally, the sort of thing a teenage punk band might accomplish, but its ok non the less. The final track is a little more interesting musically, with some interestingly produced vocals at the start, and with what I can only describe as a Rock and roll breakdown at the end, more mid west vibes.
The album ebbs and flows between serious rock and roll heavily rooted in blues, and pop punky tunes not too dissimilar to early Bad Religion with a few more added bluesy licks for good measure. Its raw round the edges and not overly produced, which i like on this type of record. It avoids the generic hardcore punk, and the sterility of some newer rock and roll, whilst also not being all out noisy like some bands in the genre.
Rating: 8/10
Recommended Track: Creatures of Habit
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