I’m pretty sure I became aware of Mike Krol when The Whiffs posted about playing some shows with him. Krol is a bit of an anomaly. Not only is he on Merge and collaborates with Mac Superchunk- a dream scenario imo- but he’s also been elusive of my fan boy attempts at cold dm’ing him about stuff even tho we have a mutual friend (unless Patrick Pack Rat is a liar which is possible I suppose?) Oh also he has a bar named after him in Sweden but that is neither here nor there except that it was via Mike Krol that I became aware of Death By Unga Bunga last September when Krol posted about doing a song with them. And that song kicks total butt.
Long story short though, DBUB has apparently been around for the “better” part of the 21st century. The extent of my knowledge of Norwegian music is also pretty limited- I went thru a period of being interested in Black Metal- I read a couple books and saw a few docs but never really got into the actual music- so fellow Norwegians Turbonegro are really the only band I can compare them to and there do seem to be parallels. Similar tongue-in-cheek machismo, leaning into the rockin’ end of punk rock with a dedication to equally macho guitar leads. The press release describes Raw Muscle Power as being “rawer and dumber” but I’m not sure if that is comparing it to their own previous releases or to everyone else’s.
This might not be your usual fodder for an album review but my favourite thing about Raw Muscle Power is the vocal production. It kind of reminds me of Sheer Mag in its if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it consistency and commitment. There’s lots of outfits now that have the same or similar effected vocal production throughout their full length (basically see any “egg punk” release) but I mention Sheer Mag because when I first heard them it stuck out and attracted me to them. The similarity ends with guitars. While Sheer Mag’s single guitar lines are filled with funky rhythms and tasty leads, DBUB’s lean more heavily toward hard rock with shredding metal-tinged leads and an affinity for Thin Lizzy-esque guitarmonies.
I guess my only issue with this record is that these dudes set the bar too high! “Therapy”- the aforementioned collab with Mike Krol- is so friggin good that the rest of the album doesn’t pale in comparison but, like a bad habit, doesn’t quite live up to my first taste. That said Raw Muscle does end on a high note with the song “Ring meg hvis du trenger en venn” (Call me if you need a friend). Sorta less hard rock, more like The Spits and the only song where they sing in their native language- bonus points for both.
