Sunday, September 2, 2018

ELBOW DEEP / MENTORS - Trash Party Split review



ELBOW DEEP / MENTORS - Trash Party Split

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions




Wanna talk about irony? The MENTORS just played around my area a few weeks ago. Here's the flyer. 




I didn't go to the show because of work but also because no EL DUCE means no MENTORS in my not so humble opinion. I know people give me shit about it because I've seen the MURDER JUNKIES a dozen times since G.G.'s passing. And hey I'm glad that Sickie Wifebeater and Dr. Heathen Scum are still playing out under the MENTORS name but hey what else can they do.


Look it was the Winter of 1996 that The MENTORS came to my town to do a show at a local club that I was a bouncer at and my friend Andy Miller booked shows. Andy and I also did Scumfeast Zine at the time. This was the last tour EL DUCE did with the MENTORS. They stayed at my house for the weekend. If you've seen a Youtube video, courtesy of Andy Miller, where DUCE is being interviewed well that was at my house. Here's a photo of us at the club. I gave DUCE a black shirt of mine to make his hood.





Fast forward to March of 1997, EL DUCE comes back to my town on his solo tour with the band GARDY LOO as his backing act.  Another weekend with EL DUCE and if you have that CD, those are my photos on the back. Also if you've ever heard the EL DUCE prank phone calls well they were done in my living-room on my fucking phone, recorded by Andy Miller, on a Sunday morning. 


So yeah I knew him and respected him for his music (come on that stuff is genius) for years. But those weekends he hung out at my house are etched in my memory like carvings in stone. So when a few weeks later when Andy called me and told me DUCE was dead, it sucked. I really liked the guy.


Which is why when this came in I immediately went to the MENTOS' tracks. Look the MENTORS would not have been one of the greatest power trios of the late 70s / early 80s if not for the great guitar work of Sickie Wifebeater and the pounding bass of Dr. Heathen Scum. As far as the this goes well the songs are OK but it's like a sound alike act.


As far as ELBOW DEEP, they're a brutal death metal act from Chitown, that's Chicago by the way, who basically play it straight as far as the genre style goes. In the end they're below generic with their four cuts. The best songs are from The MENTORS ie: "Just Like El Duce" and "Operation Alcohol". But hey that's just me. 


http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/trash-party-split-album


No comments: