Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

In The Garden EP

Label: No Death/Universal Release Date: 30/07/2007

26248
TinPanAl by Alex Denney August 2nd, 2007

Five years on from their cult-making debut, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster's shtick should be creakier than the hinges on Dracula’s coffin in a Hammer horror flick, but they've always been able to back up their essential hokiness with muscular aplomb, and this four-tack EP – their first release since the departure of guitarist Andy Huxley for the unlistenable Vile Imbeciles – isn't about to buck that trend.

Lyrically, lead-off track 'In The Garden' is a hilariously insight-free synopsis of the story of Adam and Eve, regaled in the fashion of a lobotomised Nick Cave: "And then a serpent turned and said to me / Why don’t you pick an apple from the tree / I said to it I don’t know if I should / but what the hell he said it tastes so good". But it works on its own slobbering terms as a souped-up cousin of their 'runaway smash' 'I Could Be An Angle', lifted from last LP The Royal Society. That they’re able to repeat the trick three times is testament to their continued (un-)vitality, the band's fevered skronk propping up Guy McKnight's suavely mocking croons and freakish jabber, cramming in the syllables like he's stuffing body parts into the boot of his car. 'You Say You’re A Doctor But Your Really A Mister' in particular opens with a shriek that'll curdle your cranial juices and leave you swaying in the breeze, while generally rampaging along like the consumptive offspring of Bauhaus and Faith No More.

It's unlikely to win them any new converts, save perhaps the odd disillusioned Horrors fan craving a bit of substance beneath the hairspray schlock, but for long-standing aficionados of the band it'll come as a relief that the B-Liners have lost none of their customary bite.

  • 7
    Alex Denney's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Various

Schmecord Label

Mobback
26271
26251

Feist at King's Cross Scala, Islington, Tue 24 Jul

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND