God Hears Pleas of the Innocent

Album review

The album deals with topics ranging from how farmers are sick of urbanites moving to the country because there's no room for growing food ("Porky's Dad") to songs like "The Nobbies (A Sea Chanty)" where lead singer Michael Gerald gives his son the fatherly advice "always look a man in the eye and treat the dogs and ladies nice" before he departs on a sea cruise. It's a bizarre and noisy CD with touches of punk, classic rock, and country that leaves the listener with an experience similar to that of having an oozing sore -- painful in some spots, yet infectious in others. The painful part comes by way of numbers such as "Big Song of Hell," in which the sound is so grinding that at one point, you can actually feel the music scraping along your cerebrum. When the infection of a track like "The Buzzard" takes over your senses, though, you realize that there's more to this band than just the production values of Steve Albini. The song deals with life on the road as a trucker, and the trio conveys the feeling of the open road through citizens band radio vocal effects to tempo changes that make you feel as if an 18-wheeler has just been shifted into gear. At times, it's hard to believe that Oscar the Grouch isn't behind the microphone for as gruff as Gerald sounds. By the time the record is over, you're left a bit annoyed, but slightly energized as well. This feeling is not surprising coming from a band with a name like Killdozer, who display frolicking sheep on their album cover.
© Stephen Howell /TiVo