Hookers II

Black Visions of Crimson Wisdom (Scooch Pooch)
by Brian Varney

I thought Scooch Pooch was pretty much a trash/garage punk label, but this is closer to a early ’80s power metal record, esp. the guitar tone, which is copped directly from Iron Maiden. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, since seemingly all of the labels which fixated upon the now-deceased garage punk thing have moved on, either to the afterlife (i.e., Crypt) or to new genres (i.e., Estrus’s attempt to mine the post-Hellacopters flurry of sub-Detroit heavier rock bands). It’s kinda interesting that one of those labels would move to this, but I ain’t complaining.

I only wish I could report that this record was better. It’s by no means awful, but at the same time, there isn’t much about it that’s terribly memorable. Despite having the proper allegiances (“Putting the evil back in the Devil!” is their slogan) and cool song titles (“Ball Crusher Love Machine”), this album lacks that one song that you remember when the record’s over. Though I find the singer’s voice disagreeable, the record sounds pretty good. However, I just played the whole thing (all 30 minutes), and though it’s only been over for about 5 minutes, I can’t recall a single song or riff. And while this isn’t vitally important to all genres of music, it’s quite necessary with heavy metal. The greats of the genre wrote either great riffs (Black Sabbath) or great songs (Iron Maiden). Unfortunately, the Hookers do neither. Yet.
(www.scoochpooch.com)