The Matadors - Sweet Revenge

Artist: The Matadors

Album: Sweet Revenge

Label: Stumble Records

Self proclaimed masters of "Hellbilly" The Matadors have seen a lot of drama since their last album.  Their bassist deserted them in the midst of recording, they were ripped off by former members, had shows unexpectedly canned, and were the victims of unsubstantiated rumors announcing the band's demise.  I can only imagine the fact that the fact that I'm holding The Matadors' new disc, Sweet Revenge, in my hands right now makes frontman "Hooch" quite pleased.  But simply releasing the disc is only a small part of any band's goal, so upon opening the case my real question became whether these setbacks took their toll on Hooch's musicianship.

In many ways, after the first listen I found Sweet Revenge to be a step backwards for the band - not in musicianship, but in the band's own chronology.  2005's Hellbilly 9000, an album with lyrical content heavily influenced by modern psychobilly trends, lathered on excessive polish and production value, including no shortage of B-movie sound-bites and spoken word sections.  "Sweet Revenge" draws most of its inspiration from the band's lesser known albums, "Hellblazin'" and "The Devil's Music," released between 2000 and 2002 respectively.  While a toe-tapping  neorockabilly core has always defined The Matadors, much like the older albums, Sweet Revenge draws heavily on country as a supplementary influence.  The first track, "That's How She Died," actually starts off with a 40 second western inspired acoustic intro before starting up the rest of the band.  Even then, half way through the song Hooch fires up the old banjo for a fierce solo, in effect clearly defining the album's direction.  

Lyrically, Sweet Revenge also aligns itself with Hooch's earlier efforts.  Unlike Horrorbilly 9000's fantastical songs about undead armies of zombie sluts, The Matadors return to their Luciferian tradition of endorsing earthly sins like alcohol abuse and random sexual encounters.  Songs like "Drunk and Drivin'" explore the thrill of racing down a dark highway while under the influence, and "Faith in Booze" endorses alcohol as the solution to all of life's problems.  Other songs, like "The Devil Taught Me How," detail The Matadors' backstory, explaining how the band members sold their souls to the devil in exchange for fame, fortune, and demonically guided musicianship.  Although on paper such themes may seem crude, The Matadors always maintain a very "fun," party-like feel to their songs.

So much could have gone wrong with this release.  As mentioned in the lyric booklet, all songs were recorded in 2007 and 2008, a period that, according to Hooch, "SHOULD have taken WAY less time;" and in the wake of losing their bassist the booklet even credits four bass players, including Hooch himself.  Sweet Revenge could have been a scattered mess, but thankfully the album's seamless combination of the band's various influences produces their most fully realized album to date.  As cliche as I may sound, by overcoming the drama surrounding the past few years I think it's safe to say that Hooch has earned his Sweet Revenge.