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Barbatos: Let's fuckin' die!

12/08/09 || Khlysty

Have I ever told you how much I love the Japanese? I simply adore them! Especially when they delve into rock, they’re just fucking unsurpassable: either they fuck with its core elements, pushing it to realms one can only imagine (e.g. Acid Mothers Temple, Fushitsusha, Zeni Geva et al), or they grab a formula and gangfuck it with katanas, just to see what happens, taking it to its very end (Coffins, Church Of Misery, y’know, the works…). Barbatos definitely belong to the second school, as they seem to take the lessons laid down by bands like Motörhead, Hellhammer, D.R.I., Venom and Tankard, putting them inside a completely fucked up car, cutting the brakes and letting loose and the Devil may care.

(I also have to point out that the lady adorning the cover of “Let’s Fuckin’ Die” has impeccable ass cheeks…)

Barbatos is the side-project of the two members that are the core of the underground Japanese cult favorite black-thrash combo Abigail. But if one’s looking for blackened thrash explorations, one would be violently disappointed: Barbatos leave out everything but the most basic elements of composition, orchestration and execution, gunning for the listener’s gut than his mind. The sixteen songs of this record are extremely basic three-chord chug-fests, with a guy screaming incomprehensible above the unholy din of the instruments. The playing borders on sloppy, the rhythmic variation is almost null, the songs consist of two or three barre chords plus a few embellishments and the drummer just pounds away like a cracked-up “Philthy Animal” Taylor.

(By the way, those ass cheeks on the cover, aren’t they great or what…)

Look, to put it in a completely blunt way, this is beer-drinking, beer-swilling music. If you want to get totally smashed with beer, this must be the soundtrack of your endeavor: this is simplistic as hell, with funny, me-no-speak-Englissssssssh lyrics, OTT vocals and a hu-hum production (try to tell me if and where is the fucking bass in here…). But, see that’s the record’s saving grace: it’s obviously a fun record –not tongue in cheek, but genuinely fun. The band just writes simple, speedy headbangable tunes, paying happy tribute to all the like-minded groups of yore, and plays them with such a gleeful abandon that one cannot but smile, laugh and, then, open up a few brewskies and to hell with the consequences.

(Oh, I should not forget to mention that the ass cheeks on the cover are truly impressive…)

So, the bottom line is this: Barbatos “Let’s Fuckin’ Die!” is a simple-as-simple-gets record. It’s also a fun record. It’s obviously a tension-release for the band members and their more serious occupation with their Abigail project. If one’s looking for the simple joys of headbanging, beer-drinking and general hell-raising, one could make a worse choice, than going for this record. So, I suggest that you go for Barbatos and, y’know, just enjoy yerself.

(Have I already mentioned the great ass cheeks on the cover?…)

Information
Released: 2006
Label: Displeased Records
Website: Barbatos MySpace
Band
Yasuyuki Suzuki: vocals, bass
Youhei: drums
A bunch of other guys on guitars and whatnot

Tracklist
01. Metal Hangover
02. Grave Violator
03. Satanik Butcher! Apocalyptic War!
04. Baby I’m Your Man
05. My Girl Friend With Other Guy
06. Satanik Devastation
07. Beer Is My Leader
08. Victory! Blazing War
09. Crazy As Hell
10. Smash The Fucking Disco’s (sic)
11. I’m Getting Sick Of You
12. I Hate My Life
13. Sodomy At The Graves
14. Exterminations
15. Raped In Hell
16. Midway

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