Astro Zombies A.D. "Mutants at Mosh Trajectum" CD
[Gangstyle]
Originally slated to be called the Teenagers From Mars, this Misfits cover band contains members of Right Direction and Backfire with some guest vocal appearances from members of Discipline and Uppercut, among others. I'm not sure why a Misfits cover band would release a record as opposed to just playing novelty live shows because, really, no one's gonna do these songs better than the Misfits. But this is still a solid listen. The thing that makes it less than necessary in my opinion is that they stay very true to the originals aside from the fact that the recording is obviously more modern and they throw in some lightly distorted bass and gruff singing that's generally not at all like Danzig's vocals (and you guessed it, Danzig's vocals are obviously way stronger). If they were really contorting the songs into a different style that was all their own it would be a different story and make for a potentially curious effort, but this is a flat out Misfits cover band playing straightforward Misfits songs... straight down the line. The only (slight) exceptions are the two Danzig tracks that they close with: "Twist of Cain" and "Devil's Plaything" - both great choices that are fairly well played, though the singing , while good, does leave a little to be desired. The production isn't bad. I think the drums have too much snap, and I'd like to hear more guitars and bass, but it's not bad. I'm not particularly bothered by the mix, but I am mildly annoyed by the fact that the vocals and drums always dominate - especially when the bass tone is so damn good, and the guitars sound perfectly fine. The layout contains a lot of cartoony comic book styled artwork of zombies and such, and that's about it. There are some color illustrations and some black and white illustrations, and then there is lineup/recording information and a shitload of links to various Misfits/Danzig related websites and the websites of the bands whose members participated in this release. Nothing special, but it gets the job done I suppose. I don't know. This is a fun record in some ways, but I bet it was way more fun for the guys in the band than it will be for anyone who listens to it. I just don't see the need to release an entire CD of cover songs unless you're covering songs by all different bands. Not bad, but I still don't see the real point here. (6/10)
Running time - 26:49, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Skulls, Astro Zombies, We Bite, Devil's Plaything]
Gangstyle Records - http://www.gangstylerecords.com

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