The Brides- The Brides

On their self-titled debut full-length, the Brides plunder two decades worth of decaying punk and glam rock, dress it up in costume jewelry, and throw it right in your face. Calling to mind influences as diverse as the Damned and Hanoi Rocks, they conjure up a less affected era of gothic rock – all fun, no pretense. With shout-along choruses and bouncing power chords, tracks like “Whore Money” and “Lovesick Minority” ooze punk attitude, while “Pink Purple Blue” is twitchy enough to garner comparisons to the Dead Kennedys, though lead singer Corey Gorey is certainly less grating than Jello Biafra. The chorus of “Death Wears Red” pays the inevitable Misfits tribute, but the surreal retro-futurism of songs like “Centroplex” owe more to Fritz Lang than Ed Wood. “Black Market Rebate” and “Measure of Caution” work a rocksteady beat into the mix, while guest cellist Melora Creager injects a touch of class into “Pleasure of My Company.” To finish the album off, we have “The Strange Passing of John Coal,” a menacing honky-tonk romp in the vein of the Birthday Party, and “Audience to the End,” in which keyboardist Julia Ghoulia does her best Dinah Cancer – cackles and all – over a jaunty piano melody. With sixteen songs crammed into just under forty-five minutes, it’s just enough to get you hooked and wanting more, more, MORE! Check them out at www.thebrides.net.