The Vibro Kings – Psycho Love
Self released
Psycho Love – Amore Lane – Rat Race – Pariah – Hundred Dollar Bill – Heavy Heart – Middle Of the Night – Medusa
From Rockabilly with a Punkish attitude to Psychobilly with a surf edge, with Spaghetti Noir instrumentals and blues in between, the Vibro Kings (Chris Henson on guitar and vocals, Jeremy Burgin on bass, and Jon Garrison on drums) cover the whole gamut of Rock’n’Roll with guts.
Psycho Love kicks off the album, sounding like a supercharged version of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. Then all of a sudden the pace changes and the tune evolves into something almost Jazzy (yet rockin’), not unlike what the Reverend Horton Heat can do, before kicking it back on track at full speed.
Next is Amore Lane, an instrumental with a western feel, somewhere between the aforementioned Reverend Horton Heat (Baddest Of the Bad) and the Meteors (Ballad Of A Black Hearted Man). One could find worse comparisons. There are two more instrumentals, the surf-tinged Pariah, and the wild Medusa. Writing Rock’n’Roll instrumental is an art, and few bands manage to develop interesting ideas beyond the initial riff. Paul Fenech and Webb Wilder are two of the very best at this exercise, in my opinion. The three instrumentals offered by the Vibro King are of the same level.
Among the remaining tracks, Rat Race is more on the Psychobilly side of things, Hundred Dollar Bill is a no-nonsense Rock’n’Roll track, the kind of tune that makes you want to party all night long. But the best track of the album is Middle of the Night, a threatening and menacing slow-paced tune. The atmosphere the band manages to create on this one is superb yet scary at the same time. Despite having quite a few songs that go beyond the four-minute mark (five, almost six out of eight), they always manage to keep things interesting with the different textures and layers of sound, the solos that are always inventive, and the sheer quality of their songs.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
