Beestung Lips - Songs To And From An Iron Gut (Southern)
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
This album is 17 minutes of pure excitement from beginning to end.
Making rock/metal like this is so simple I don't understand why so many bands get it wrong. Line up some good riffs, bash them out slightly faster than you wrote them over drums with loads of crash cymbals and fills, then shout over them. It's no more complicated than a Delia Smith recipe.
Of course this is only the way it seems. It is of course quite difficult being in a band like this, a band who have to virtually kill themselves every night just to keep up with their songs. Also, once you have established within 30 seconds that this album intends to excite for the duration, it is very hard to maintain that excitement, it is rather like entertaining a child - you have to try everything.
Songs To And From An Iron Gut is a rubbish title, but I have really enjoyed having this floating around on my iTunes of late. If you're like me, then once or twice a day, or whenever you are really annoyed (which is a lot) or just really excited or happy, you will need a metal fix. Some albums will give you a better fix than others. I found that Everybody Owes A Death by Stampin' Ground offers a pretty good fix, but the rest of the album Carved From Empty Words gives a limited degree of satisfaction... something like Prowler In The Yard' by Pig Destroyer on the other hand will make you feel lovely and tingly inside for at least 2 hours after listening to it. This is pretty up there. I wouldn't want to listen to much more than 16:31 of Beestung Lips, but this record really is worth hearing, and the fact there is so much packed into the (nearly) 17 minutes makes this an economical listen in terms how much you get out compared to how much you put in.
All being said I wouldn't really call this metal, I guess it's punk, but it doesn't really feel like that either. This to me is just straight up good rock, like bands like Mclusky or No Age, there is no point in giving them a genre name because it really is just basically rock. They're a band like you wanted to be in when you were 15, rather than some cleaver project you want to do in your 20s.
You may have a problem with the singer's incessant whining voice, but personally I think his sloppy delivery makes this recording what it is, and gives Beestung Lips a very human edge. There are obviously dips in the album and there are elements that repeat, but the band certainly aren't relying on any conventions that are exclusive to them, there is no simple formula to any of the songs, and there is no gimmick to the sound. They have been written properly by people that enjoy writing music as well as playing it.
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