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Flagpole Magazine reviews: Rat Babies
"Rat Babies are not cute and cuddly. Like the rodent they're named for, they rip and tear into what they're given. With screamed, nigh incomprehensible vocals, sludgy guitars and spastic, thrashing drums, Rat Babies are about as grunge metal as you can get. In fact, they're pretty much standard. The Complete Guide... is their collection of unreleased demos and live tracks. More than half of the album heads into the five minute and over mark, leaving you wondering when the song actually ended. The sound quality is spotty at times, but for the genre, it works. There's a constant drone throughout the record -perhaps the result of massive amounts of feedback, but it does give an otherwise unrelated collection a unifying sound. The lyrics are nothing special, featuring much mulled over ideas of death and blood and dying. "Bleeder" asks "Did I go numb just to feel something?" But there's hope still for some originality. The song "Vibrator" is a delightfully X-rated grind that dissolves into declarations of why a certain member of the body is no longer needed. It takes a few listens to understand every word, but once you get it, it sticks. The album came with a DVD that I can only describe as someone with a video camera running around a swamp either during a lightning storm or just with a flashlight. It honestly wouldn't be a bad backdrop for Rat Babies to play in front of since it does match the music pretty well. But as a stand-alone disc? I'd rather just watch Blair Witch again. It aims for artsy but just falls into the realm of bad ideas. Rat Babies just want to be your fuzzed-out, sludgy metal vibrators. They may not always blow your mind, but they'll get the job done." - Jordan Stepp Link: http://flagpole.com/Weekly/RecRev/RatBabies-23Sep09 |