Th' LegendaryShack*Shakers -Pandelirium

Wed 23rd Aug, 2006 in Music Reviews

The latest offering from American band Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers, Pandelirium, is a clear consolidation of the artistic moves tentatively ventured in their previous albums. Pandelirium is their third in total, but second on label YepRoc Records.

The first thing you notice is the vicious, texas polkas, spaghetti western anthems and gritty, punky sound bombs, which the album is full of. Th’ Shack*Shakers break down American music to the essentials and build it back up again to create the new American Gothic.

The first song off the album, ‘Ichabod!’ starts things off at an extremely high energy level. The song features guest vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist Rev. Horton Heat (Jim Heath), so you wouldn’t expect anything less. Rev. Horton Heat also appears on ‘Somethin’ In The Water’, another brilliant song on the album.

The third song on the album, ‘No Such Thing’, carries on with the same schizophrenic freakshow sound, but is clearly a stand out track, thanks to them sounding more like another Mike Patton project than anything else.

This album has embedded such helpless adoration in me that I can’t bring myself to describe the rest of the cuts. So go down and get it and find out for yourself whether you’ll like it or not, as I sit here and listen to this album til my ears bleed or my stereo breaks, whichever comes first.