When Send More Paramedics announced a brief reformation to play a handful of shows celebrating 20 years of reanimation no one expected them to chuck out a brand new 9-track album but they surprised us all by doing just so. The Final Feast is their first studio album release in 15 years, the last being The Awakening (2006). Listening to this new release you would not think that much time had elapsed between the two as it is the perfect follow-up. Recorded, produced, mixed and mastered in July/August 2021 at the Stationhouse Studio in Leeds, UK by James Atkinson (Voorhees/Gentlemens Pistols). The Final Feast showcases Send More Paramedics blend of thrash/punk with their signature '80s zombie, B-movie theme in perfect style, much like their previous offerings. Sporting distinctive, catchy intros into the fast-paced thrashing of "Mortify", "She Lives" and "Splatterpunk" which portray the visceral rage of the infected to "Malfacteur", told from the zombie's point of view with a catchy signature riff becoming momentarily bilingual as vocalist B'Hellmouth spits out some French! "Totenkopf" is one of their more anthemic sing-along tracks (which became the single from the album and was the first track most of us heard). Based on Jesus Francos' epicly awful zombie B-movie Oasis Of The Zombies (aka: Oasis Of The Living Dead) (1982) and quite possibly the best thing associated with this movie it has yet another killer riff with a more punk feel to it and a great shout along outro of "Nazi zombies fuck you!" Not only a tribute to the movie but also a nod to the Dead Kennedys 1983 track "Nazi punks fuck off". They always have one track on their albums of slower fare and this time "Unfree" is that track. Huge, deliberate chugging guitar and heavily driven by the drums, this is pretty dark lyrically. The insanely awesome "Human Capital" and "Hibakusha" are huge tracks containing some monster breakdowns. Send More Paramedics like to use movie samples on some of their tracks and this time they go for a classic excerpt from Zombie Creeping Flesh (1973) at the start of "She Lives" and "Word Is The Virus" takes a sample from Pontypool (2008). It explores the premise of the movie where the virus is spread by word of mouth.
The Final Feast is a fantastic concluding album from the Leeds based 4-piece. It is neither overly produced nor convoluted, which has always been the way with these legends of zombiecore: just straight up brains to the wall thrash/punk with everything you would expect from these guys. They are all incredibly talented musicians that mastered their style many years ago. There is always a risk when a band get back together after a long hiatus that any new material will never be as it was, but in the case of Send More Paramedics and The Final Feast fans need not worry. This is like they had never been away! The Final Feast is currently only available digitally via their Bandcamp, the artwork created by guitarist Medico. I hope that maybe one day in the near future there will be a physical release but until then please check this out via Bandcamp or visit their website where you can check out their back catalogue, an extensive archive of gig photos, posters and interviews spanning their 20 year career. Send More Paramedics have returned to the graves they rose from, leaving us with 4 superb studio albums, 2 split EPs and 3 compilation albums in various formats. This final offering proves that the band never lost sight of their musical goals even though they are members of the living dead.
