Published on Dec 20, 2000
Punk rock……Garage rock……Gutter
rock……Heavy Metal……
Whatever you want to call it doesn’t matter, I suppose. What is
undeniable is that in this scene emerging today out of Scandinavia
are elements of a retro, supercharged melding of sounds and
attitudes reminiscient of bands from the hard rock era of the
seventies-bands such as The Stooges, MC5, and Ted Nugent.
Norway’s own Gluecifer exemplifies the best traits of this genre
of rock and roll with their most recent release,
Tender Is The Savage. Loud but discernible guitar riffs and
lead breaks with a battery of anthemic choruses will make anyone so
inclined to give this album a listen, reach to crank up the volume.
Needless to say, this is high octane stuff.
The message Gluecifer and vocalist Biff Malibu want you to get
from listening to
Tender Is The Savage is how to best cope with life while
wearing a chip on one’s shoulder and presumably with a sense of
humor.
The first track, “I Got A War”, launches into the simple task of
capturing a first person perspective in regards to the emotions of
a relationship gone sour. With lyrics screaming to “grab your
chair” because “you’re gonna need a shield” and that “I’ll be
digging my trench” to “get me out of this stench” one easily
catches on to the bands comic bravado.
Perhaps it is this sense of lyrical arrogance that makes this
album an enjoyable anthem of growing up and living life or could it
be the dual guitars of Captain Poon and Raldo Useless????
The tracks, “Drunk And Pompous” and “The General Says Hell Yeah”
offer the listener the opportunity to get in line and do what
Gluecifer does so well and that’s to go from “being a dreamer” to
“being a SCREAMER”, suggestions both songs offer up. In fact, the
first testosterone filled anthem challenges everyone to recognize
the benefits of being the subject in a “me-first” world. With lines
like “I was born to rule” and “you were born to drool” there is
absolutely no mistake. The second aforementioned anthem offers up
such advice as to “salute the General or you’ll have to be shelled
to hell”.
Gluecifer does have the ability to slow things down and capture
a blues-based feel with their songs, all while not disenfranchising
the listener from it’s core hell-bent sound. “Red Noses, Shit
Poses” and the last track “Exit At Gate Zero” do this
wonderfully.
Tender Is The Savage is a two disc release. The first is the
studio album followed by a short secondary disc of live tracks
(three songs) including the first single and enhanced video off the
album, “I Got A War”. What I noticed was the band’s sound was as
raw and consistent live as it was on this studio release.
One would imagine that with the stage names of the band members
coupled with the creativity in the arrangements and messages of the
lyrics, Gluecifer doesn’t attempt to put the proverbial weight of
the world on their shoulders in efforts to shape society with its
lyrical messages. That in itself underscores two of the key
elements in rock and roll……keeping it simple and
making it fun.