The Scourge of River City - The Scourge of River City

Artist: The Scourge of River City

Album: Self Titled

Label: Cherry Bomb Recordings

I always try avoiding comparisons to Tiger Army when reviewing psychobilly albums.  It's not that, like many psychobilly purists, I think ill of Tiger Army (quite the opposite in fact), but that very few psychobilly acts present comparable characteristics.  But with the UK's The Scourge of River City's self titled debut, the occasion has finally surfaced.

Although the band doesn't reference Tiger Army in their bio, the combination of Davey Havoc-esque vocals, an echoey but not overpowering double bass, and a speedy punk guitarist  makes the comparison unavoidable.  Much like Tiger Army, The Scourge of River City even has a distinct country essence apparent when they slow things down.  Specifically, the album's quietest tune, "Heart's Horizon," emits a country quality identical to Tiger Army's Morrisey influenced "Where the Moss Slowly Grows."  Lead vocalist "Greg" isn't without his own distinct qualities though.  For example, in songs like "Shipwreck" he often follows his smooth quivering croon by roughly screaming out a few lines.  The effect makes the tracks feel slightly less polished - a technique nicely matching the sections of frantic punk guitaring.  For that matter, the band certainly leans more heavily on rock influences than Tiger Army as well.  The band cites Queens of the Stone Age and The Smiths as  influences.  But for me, such influences only really surfaced after closely listening to various instrumental bridges in songs like "Fall From Grace."  Yet it's a nice touch and helps distinguish the band from the already overmentiomed Tiger Army.

As a whole, The Scourge of Fiver City's debut album sounds coherent and well composed.  But more importantly, I always get quite excited upon hearing this type of psychobilly from Europe.  Far too many psychobilly acts around the UK find themselves unwilling to draw upon their American counterparts in fear of being branded "American" psychobilly - a derogatory term used for discrediting less conventional acts.  Consequently, despite the stream of consistently strong traditional psychobilly flowing out of Europe, the region hasn't seen a lot of intra-genre growth.  Hopefully the emergence of The Scourge of River City represents greater trends and a sign of psychobilly bands moving toward accepting their overseas counterparts.