Search - Flesh Eaters :: Hard Road To Follow

Favourite album by favourite band reissued finally

Allan MacInnis | Vancouver | 09/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There's this little clique o' people, mostly unknown to each other, who score points with each other by describing the Flesheaters as their favourite rock band; they then may fall to disagreeing as to whether this or FOREVER CAME TODAY (unreleased as of yet) is their favourite disc. This one is mine. There's a marvelous dark romanticism to Chris D.'s lyrics, which basically are a forceful/sincere punk-edged regurgitation of every b-movie cliche he's ingested in his movie-watchin' history; one song, for example, images a young cop-killing couple joyriding in a stolen police car, asserting that they'll never die, as their certain comeuppance circles closer; it's the musical equivalent of the most violent escapist film fantasy you've counted as a guilty pleasure, and in its own way as intelligently postmodern as any o' the films of Quentin Tarantino, say (but more romantic/sincere/gutsy, without one drop of irony, so maybe not postmodern at all, REALLY, tho' it was fun to say). Yes, a bunch of these songs -- including most o' the bonus material -- are available on the PREHISTORIC FITS and DESTROYED BY FIRE discs, OOP both but you might have them anyhow; BUT there are also two masterpieces that need to be heard, "Life's a Dirty Rat" and "Father of Lies," neither of which have been issued elsewise, so buy this anyhow. Love, violence, tequila, passionate declamations, teen angst, and a healthy respect for pulp culture: you CANNOT GO WRONG."

Masterpiece deserves better mastering

R. Ellsworth | Washington, DC United States | 09/05/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a timeless classic of very heavy and unique rock form the early eighties that features Chris D.'s incredible vocal preformance; maybe his best, maybe tied with "Forever Came Today". The compositions, the band, are all top flight. Unfortunately, this CD sounds like it was mastered from a scratchy Lp! Not even a good Lp. Some of it is bad enough to be distracting, and that is way too much. The bonus material, which is excellent, sounds much better than the original Lp material. A sky full of stars for the music; a cloudy starless night for the sonic presentation."