Well there’s a pairing.

Everyone’s favourite Chardonnay enthusiast, Phil Anselmo and Bill Moseley. Actor, total horror hero and portrayer of some of the most bat-shit bad-asses in fear cinema. Seriously, watch him as Chop-Top in TCM 2 or Otis in ‘The Devils Rejects’ and tell me you don’t think there’s a genuine touch of lunacy behind Moseley’s eyes.

Now, unbeknownst to me Bill has quite a bit of musical output behind him having put out a few records with former Guns & Roses guitarist Buckethead as Cornbugs. Everyone knows Anselmo is a horror nerd so it makes sense that he’d be mates with Moseley and here we are with a six track EP.

Pressing ‘play’ I had no idea what to expect and, pessimistically, was ready to be disappointed however this turned out to be a cool little project with all instruments played by Anselmo and Stephen Berrigan (Eyehategod / Down) and Moseley writing the lyrics and providing vocals

‘Dirty Eye’  is the first track and the heaviest on the record kicking things off with a riff and general menacing bluesy vibe that could slot in somewhere on a Down album.  First surprise is Moseley’s voice, the dude can really sing and hold a note.

‘Corpus Crispy’ is a trippy and melancholic seven minute plus number that sounds like an old Doors song. ‘Catastrophic’ is mostly Bill rambling like a cider addled pub singer over a simple but dark & heavy riff.

‘Widder Woman’ is thirty seconds of nonsense, basically a sinister sounding nursery rhyme read by Moseley. ‘Tonight’s The Night We Die’ is a mostly acoustic ballad which really shows off the nuances in Moseley’s voice and again, reminds me of The Doors.

Final track ‘Bad Donut’ is more ranting nonsense by Moseley “can’t you keep your hands to yourself, can’t you teach your kids to whistle” over a solid D-Beat and guitar riff.

I’m not sure who, apart from fans of both the personalities involved, are gonna pick this up and you do get the sense it’s a bit of an indulgence and made solely for the amusement of Anselmo & Moseley themselves. Having said that, there’s a bizarre uniqueness to the collaboration that I really liked. Not sure I’d want a whole LP’s worth but this was a good, odd, but good listen.

7/10 Mark Eve

 

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