Sometimes a joke can go too far. You know what I mean - like that puny kid at school who you gave a horrible name to so that by the end of year everyone was calling him it and then by the end of the next year he was found hanging in the toilets to stop the abuse. The Nekromantix went too far with their previous album according to former members The Sandorff brothers, who quit saying that "It wasn't funny anymore," granted that they did quit just after the terrible Dead Girls Don't Cry, which was about as funny as a baby with AIDS. So, with a new look backing band for him, could Kim Nekroman return to the glory days of old with new album Life is a Grave and I Dig It!?
Whilst the album is certainly an improvement on the lackluster Dead Girls Don't Cry it's still not a very good album and it seems that Nekroman has run into a formula for the band, every song sounds exactly like a Nekromantix track with break neck guitar riffs, cheesy and clichéd horror movie inspired lyrics and attempts at sing along choruses.
"Nekrohigh" kicks off the album, and instantly has you wondering if the band has to name everything Nekro
I expect they travel in the Nekrobus and Kim and his lovely wife Patricia live in the Nekrohouse. The song is one to skip, with awful, horrible lyrics and a bizarre attempt to harmonize. The next track "Horny in a Hearse" is just plain wrong. I just hope to God it's not autobiographical, because the thought of Kim Nekroman having sex is enough to have me reaching for something to gouge my brain out. As the title suggests this is a song about someone's girl being turned on by having sex in a hearse and other than that horrible mental image it's a actually a good song with a nice relaxed rock and roll sound compared to the breakneck pace of most Nekromantix songs.
Whilst most of the album blends into one messy pop psychobilly mess there are a few stand out moments on the album, "Life is a Grave and I Dig It!" is a pretty rip roaring tune with a sweet little riff and it has probably the only really decent sing along moment in it, however with pedestrian songs like "My Girl" and "Flowers are Slow" it's quite hard to pick out the worthwhile moments from an album that eventually descends into a cluster of bad ideas and missteps that you find yourself just skipping tracks hoping to find something worth listening to without any success.
Maybe I'm just getting old, or maybe they are, but I no longer look forward to the latest Nekromantix album, because it just seems that they have got bored with trying to make something of interest and they seem to just try and do what's expected of them. Sadly it just means that you don't need Life is a Grave and I Dig It! if you own any previous Nekromantix album.
