The band’s name might alarm us faint-hearted types, but The Amazing Snakeheads are well-worth surpassing the fear associated with those reptiles that you once hit in your yard with a shovel. The band hail from the windswept lands of Glasgow, Scotland, and what stands out to me the most in their sound is the percussion. I have to credit the band for finding such variation on a sound usually unaltered and limited to the typical ‘snare, kick’ ratio we’re all accustomed to.
The Truth Serum, released last year, is a prime example of the drummer’s skill and the band’s unique sound. The track begins with an unusual drum solo, strongly led by solid kicks, played like an angry teenager annoying his neighbours. Demonic vocals, with a heavy SCOTTISH ACCENT, are screamed over the drums, reminding us of the grunge-punk days of Nirvana which we so mistakenly thought would eventually come to an end. Weirdly, the thick, dark chasm of sound evident in the Snakehead’s sound prompts me to imagine myself marching in synchronized order on the way to a satanic meeting, with an anti-Christ in hand.
If you like your music loud, bratty, angry, slightly insane and fucking energetic as anything, listen to Scottish punk band The Amazing Snakeheads.
Each song from their new album Amphetamine Ballads incorporates a different sound, totally removed and unattached from one another. Listening to Amphetamine Ballads reveals a cleaner, yet still dissonant sound from the boys, with their cheeky sense of rebellion still in check. Tracks like Here It Comes Again and Testifying Time dabble into the roots of punk, crafted by a transcendental imagination and a fuzzy cloud of distortion, trialed and tested in bands like The Pixies, who can only be described as a beautiful mess of noise.
Admittedly, I’d never heard of The Amazing Snakeheads until now, though as of today they’ve won a new fan and gained one more (all important) like on Facebook. Really, it is hard not to love a band with so much attitude. Maybe they’ll cast me as their grunge-punk cheerleader? Or maybe not.
▲ FACEBOOK ▲ DOMINO RECORDS ▲ BANDCAMP
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