Review
The Cavemen
Euthanise Me

Slovenly (2020) Loren

The Cavemen – Euthanise Me cover artwork
The Cavemen – Euthanise Me — Slovenly, 2020

The Cavemen are a garage band from New Zealand with a ton of releases to their name. You know the style: it’s abrasive, it’s risqué, and full o’ swagger. But it’s also catchy, highly energetic and upbeat -- perversely positive, if you will.

This 4-song EP runs at about 10 minutes (to be generous) and delivers a wallop. Fittingly titled Euthanise Me the songs are crude-but-kinda cute, balancing a tightrope that avoids shock rock while being clever and still relatable, with some human emotion and metaphor buried behind lyrics like “You ain’t nothing but roadkill to me…I wanna eat your heart and wear your face” or “It’s a nightmare/ Every time I see you/ I lose control.”

Fans of fast, sloppy and machismo garage-rock should check this out. It checks all the style boxes while also managing to sound just different enough from cut to cut to be distinct, which isn’t something I can say for a lot of bands in this genre. “Euthanise Me” establishes the mood, the cannibal-themed “Eat Your Heart & Wear Your Face” is the real standout here, with a silly-as-heck theme and nice guitar work, the arguably sweet “Nightmare” reeks of testosterone, and “Over You” is the heartbroken ballad, of sorts.

8.0 / 10Loren • November 23, 2020

The Cavemen – Euthanise Me cover artwork
The Cavemen – Euthanise Me — Slovenly, 2020

Related news

New Cavemen 7-inch

Posted in Records on January 31, 2021

Recently-posted album reviews

Action/Adventure

Ever After
Pure Noise (2025)

Chicago’s Action/Adventure have been grinding the pop-punk trenches since 2014. They have always played pop-punk like it still has something to prove because for them, it does. They went viral in 2020 on TikTok with their song “Barricades” by calling out the exact thing no one in the scene wanted to say out loud. The genre is full of white … Read more

217

In Your Gaze
Time To Kill (2025)

If you didn’t know, hardcore and punk are alive and thriving in Italy. When I come across bands from there, their scene never ceases to amaze me. Italy gave us Raw Power and Negazione in the ’80s, Slander and Strength Approach in the 2010s. Now 217 picks up that lineage with their own mix of fire and reflection by keeping … Read more

Ugly Stick

Absinthe
Hovercraft Records (2025)

Contrary to what I said on Vh1’s Behind the Music, Tim from Hovercraft is one of my favourite human beings. I suppose in some ways that’s not saying much but Tim plays in one of my favourite bands, I’m a fan of his art and on top of those two things and running a label, his day job is saving … Read more