The Killbots Album Reviews

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Up Yours Demo (2004)

Up Yours Demo (2004)

Nuevo / Killer Raid / Shake Your Steak

Up Yours TIME TRAVEL: we’re back at the end of 2003, when The Killbots and nine other local bands played the finals of Limbomania, one of Belgium’s most ‘important’ rock contests. Once there, a few bands had already performed before them, ranging from restrained electro to average hyper-kinetic hardcore and Dutch-language hip-hop, but when these guys (the sixth band of the evening or so) stepped on stage, strapping their guitars to their bodies, checking if their distortion pedals were working, you immediately sensed this was something “different.” Everybody noticed it. As soon as the boys kicked off their set, they immediately had the audience on their side, with people banging their heads, throwing their fists into the air and yelling “FUCK YEAH!” I know why, because I was there. It’s because The Killbots play in-your-face rock ‘n’ roll, and they’re not ashamed to admit it. Even though they originally seemed a bit more stoner-oriented to me (as witnessed during the first song of this demo), they’re an energetic, carefree four-piece that grabs the basic ingredients, throws them in a blender and comes up with a sweaty, beer-soaked brand of retro-rock that successfully combines elements from hard rock, blues, boogie, stoner and everything that’s remotely related. As I already hinted at, opening track “Nuevo” is somewhat different: there’s the playful intro, but after half a minute, the band kicks into a heavy groove that despite the cheap production does an adequate job. Also: a great performance by singer/guitar player Strotbot (that’s ‘Frenz’ for friends and family), who gives a fierce, John Garcia-styled performance and a spine-curdling scream after 2:12 into the song. The two remaining tracks are basically more traditional hard rock, with “Killer Raid” offering some nifty guitar soloing, appropriately barked vocals by second singer/guitar player Stoffbot and a “my balls are bigger than yours, fucko”-attitude. Third track, the wonderfully misogynistic “Shake Your Steak” has already become a concert favorite, for understandable reasons, as the band plays a hard-rocking boogie like few Belgian have done the past few years (or decades). While it’s a pretty cool song in itself, the best part of it comes after three minutes or so, when they start the instrumental second part and build up to several climaxes with layers of sustained feedback, strutting riffs, galloping drum parts by señor Drumbot, and an intensity that’s the key ingredient of all good rock ‘n’ roll. The Killbots hardly offer anything new – but you won’t hear them claim they’re this year’s innovators, either - but they know how to convince an audience that it’s OK to recycle your dad’s record closet, sing about asses instead of metaphysical topics and have FUN on stage. As long as they don’t lose their sense of humor (keep the irony intact, fellas!) and their spontaneity, The Killbots will be a 100% bullet-proof testosterone machine.

Note: I heard the drummer considers himself the sexiest motherfucker to walk the planet. He may be right.