ROT T.V. – Tales of Torment
Release Date: 18th February 2022
Label: Tee Pee Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Classic Rock, Garage Rock.
FFO: The Damned, New York Dolls, MC5.
Review By: Paul Franklin
Denim and leather-clad Aussie rockers Rot T.V. started life as a Blue Öyster Cult tribute act in 2016, eventually evolving into their own band. With their BÖC influences proudly stitched to their sleeves along with patches from the likes of The Damned, Chuck Berry and Hawkwind, Tales of Torment is a debut packed with what vocalist Harriet Hudson-Cilse describes as ‘a kinda deranged version of classic rock’.
The strutting Ready to Die kicks things off in fine New York Dolls style, the whole thing sounding deliciously analogue. In fact, in an age when some bands are looking to deliver clean, precise, stiletto riffs directly into your brain with laser accuracy, it’s almost warmly nostalgic when you find a band happy to just smash you over the head with an empty VB bottle.
Harriet mentioned in an interview that she often has a horror theme in mind when writing for the band, hence we have the aptly named Feeling Dead Alive and the underlying ghoulish air permeates quite a few of the songs. Take for example Oblivion, which sounds like a gentle stroll through some flower filled woods before a careless detour takes you down a wrong path to a whole darker place. Settling down, the rest of the tracks continue in a similar vein, although this does perhaps open them up to accusations of choosing safe familiarity over stepping out of the generic box to bring something new to the scuzzy, beer soaked table.
In terms of highlighting their influences, there are two tracks on the album where the band do not so much wear them on their sleeves, as get them printed on the front of a t-shirt in huge neon letters. The first is a brooding reimagining of The Kinks anthem to non-conformity I’m Not Like Everybody Else, the second is Nervous Wreck, and it’s possibly the best track on the album. A glorious, stuttering, duck walking, punk infused salute to Chuck Berry and the sheer undiluted joy of good ol’ rock n’ roll! Seriously, if at least two of your extremities are not furiously tapping away at the end of this two and half minutes, you might as well just give up and…well, just give up!
(3.5 / 5)
