The Death Wheelers describe their sound on their Bandcamp page as “sleaze ‘n’ roll.” That’s perfect, and their newest album Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness is a prime example of that sound.
Churning out a dozen instrumental stoner-doom jams (apart from some clever samples of dialogue from biker and horror films), The Death Wheelers get right down to dirty business (after the brief intro of “The Scum Always Rises to the Top”) on “Morbid Bails,” showing off deft shredding and growling bass thuds in the same track.
The voice of Scott Glenn in the movie Angles As Hard As They Come saying “I ride where I want, wear that I want, get stoned when I want,” starts off the wild, hammering “Les Mufflers Du Mal.” “Ride into the Röt (Everything Lewder Than Everything Else)” is both a fun Motörhead reference and a stoner-surf ripper (with a sample of Ernest Borgnine from The Devil’s Rain, no less).
“We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man! And we want to get loaded!” yells a young man in the film Lucifer’s Bend at the start of “Triple D (Dead, Drunk, and Depraved),” which is a quick introduction to, no surprise, “Lucifer’s Bend” – a song about the devil’s long reach. “Brain Bucket” is a fun little track about a motorcycle crash that leads into the horror-surf of “Open Road X Open Casket.”
“Motortician” is, go figure, a track about tripping out and ultimately checking out on your bike. “Interquaalude” might be the best-titled track in a long while. “Sissy Bar Strut (Nymphony 69)” is a wild psychedelic jam that fades out because it appears to have no end in sight. “Cycling for Satan Part II” takes off with all pipes open and throttles jammed forward and roars to an abrupt, distorted end.
It’s another ripping album from The Death Wheelers, who don’t need vocals. Their riffs say it all.
Keep your mind open.
[Ride over to the subscription box while you’re here.]