Release Date: August 25th 2023. Record Label: RidingEasy Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Chaos And The Art Of Motorcycle Madness: Tracklisting
The Scum Always Rises To The Top
Morbid Bails
Les Mufflers Du Mal
Ride Into The Rot (Everything Lewder Than Everything Else)
Triple D (Dead, Drunk and Depraved)
Lucifer's Bend
Brain Bucket
Open Road X Open Casket
Motortician
Interquaalude
Sissy Bar Strut (Nymphony 69)
Cycling For Satan Part II
Review:
Chaos And The Art Of Motorcycle Madness (CATAOFMM) is the new album from Instrumental Doom/Stoner/Sleaze Rockers The Death Wheelers who have aligned themselves to famed record label RidingEasy Records for this their third album. CATAOFMM is a leaner, meaner and sleazier offering with The Death Wheelers fully hitting their Outlaw Creative persona with absolute relish. The music is quite subtle with a menacing Psychedelic Freakout element to their sound starting to fully take over. Things can be quite FUNK driven in places but the music is constantly engaging even with the Blues Rock flow of the Doomed Out aspect of the album that appears very early on within the opening songs of The Scum Always Rises To The Top and Morbid Rails.
Taking creative cues from bands such as Clutch, Black Sabbath and Church Of Misery on this album whilst allowing The Death Wheelers every opportunity to take their music into and exciting and different direction with the more Psychedelic Doom aspect of their sound being the main force where the heavy grooves appear. There's a killer Seventies Hard Rock approach which allows The Death Wheelers to play a more hardened style of Street Doom, Punk Rock and Stoner Metal with a flawless Proto-Metal attitude. The Death Wheelers have fun with their music especially on the long drawn out instrumental jams that showcases other areas of Hard Rock into the mix. Check out the Surf Rock soundings of the excellent third track Les Mufflers Du Mal.
A song that brings a ferocious Blues Rock attitude with a "no-good-for-nothing" outlaw style of Speed Rock/Metal that moves eerily along the Hard Rock attitudes of the last sixty years of Heavy Music.
Fourth song Ride Into The Rot (Everything Lewder Than Everything Else) is the epitome of what The Death Wheelers actually play best. Rebellious Doom/Stoner Metal with a thrilling Slzy Outlaw sound that turns into a twisted style of Psychedelic vivid imagery with mighty slabs of Guitar Amp and Reverb feedback for some of the heaviest sounds of the album.
Fifth song Triple D (Dead, Drunk and Depraved) follows the same destructive path as the previous song but one that opens with a landmark and classic soundclip that gives extra weight to The Death Wheelers rebellious style of music. That surreal Surf Rock element returns which gives this track a more hallucinogenic and gonzo feel. Though, the band still plays a non-stop blast of intense and distorted extended jams.
Sixth song Lucifer's Bend is perhaps the freakiest and outlandish track on the album with The Death Wheelers fully exploring that Occult Doom aspect of the album. The song starts off slowly before exploding into a Surf Rock inspired Doom/Stoner Metal style groove. with an intense Occult Rock soundbyte being added to the mix. The music becomes slightly more despairing and some say quite "LEWD" but all done in the best demonic tastes possible. Perhaps my favourite track on the album.
With the rules of the game firmly laid down by The Death Wheelers on the first half of the album, the second half sees the band bring more sinister themes, sounds, grooves, jams and ideas to the album with the superb song titles showing the listener what type of song is on their way. There's perhaps a more reliance on soundclips and soundbytes on this part of the album, however the ideas are super fresh and wonderfully surreal. There's a more experimental and jam-based quality coming through the songs especially on Brain Bucket, Open Road X Open Casket and Interquaalude.
Though the final two tracks of Sissy Bar Strut (Nymphony 69) and Cycling For Satan offer the trippiest and gloomiest parts of the record that left me wanting to hear more.
The Death Wheelers always offer a fresh and different sound within the Instrumental Doom/Stoner Rock scene on this release. The album is never boring and this helps the band deliver perhaps their most fun and demonic record to date. The production values are excellent and have an intense "Garage Rock" vibe to them which helps The Death Wheelers deliver their addictive blend of trippy and doomed out grooves to a dramatic conclusion when everything is said and done.
Chaos And The Art Of Motorcycle Madness is perhaps everything you want to hear from an album such as this. The Death Wheelers put out all the stops in releasing one of the most demented and supremely entertaining Instrumental Rock/Metal albums of the year.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to RidingEasy Records for the promo.
Chaos And The Art Of Motorcycle Madness will be available to buy on Cassette/DD/Vinyl via RidingEasy Records from August 25th 2023.
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