BUT WHERE DID THEY GET THAT PORTA-POTTY?

Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges wrote an editorial a few weeks back about the 20th anniversary of Scatterbrain’s Here Comes Trouble, noting that there’s a certain element of fun and audaciousness that’s not only been missing from metal for two decades but that would be considered downright ridiculous these days:

Listening to Scatterbrain now is a trip because its sound is so dated. It comes from a time of “fun metal”, in which D.R.I., M.O.D., Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, Fishbone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, and Ugly Kid Joe were all likely cohabitants in CD collection.

While it’s hard to imagine anything as silly as “Mr. Johnson and the Juice Crew” (MP3 posted at Invisible Oranges), not all metal is frowny-faced gloom and doom these days. There’s bands like Municipal Waste and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder who take their thrash with a sense of humor. There’s the pagan metal set, which is completely serious but is also all about having a good time and getting jolly wasted. And there’s Reading, PA’s The Gloominous Doom, whose unlikely combination of ska and metal harkens back to some of the bands that Cosmo name-checked.

Take The Gloominous Doom’s new video for “Portal Potty” as proof; it’s about a special porta-potty with Bill & Ted-style time-traveling qualities. This is a band that has plenty of chops and songwriting ability but doesn’t take themselves too seriously. Their new record The Feature will come out on May 4th via DRP Records. They’ll be on a Northeast mini-tour with The Binary Code in May, and their CD release show on May 1st also features none other than fellow fun-lovers Rumpelstiltskin Grinder.

-VN