Lava Rats – Surfin’ The Magma

The Lava Rats first "real" album, with 13 surf instros in their punk underpinned brand of dark surf. Some very good tracks here if you're looking for the underbelly of the curl. A creaking door sound effect and slow, ominous descending guitar riff usher you In The Charnel House. With a sudden scream and shattering kick of a reverb tank, you know there's no turning back. Surf music with a dose of horror. Over and over, the main theme is hammered home with heavily reverbed spy-tone and aggressively double picked melodic variations. Well worth it, if you don’t have it already. Get their second one – “Don’t Drink The Water” here in the archives. Nice set.

1 Sundown at the Gallows 2 PCH 3 Hey Link! 4 Shifty-Eyed Surf 5 Militant Cyclist 6 Homercles 7 Naughty Pine 8 Summer of Our Discontent 9 A Phalanx of Terror 10 Moss Beach Madness 11 Blowtorch 12 Pachinko 13 Exile in Mantua

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