Lecherous Gaze - Lecherous Gaze EP

  by Andrew Carver

published: 25 / 5 / 2011

Label: Tee Pee Records
Format: CDS

intro

Promising first EP from Oakland, California-based punk metal outfit, Lecherous Gaze

To think, once upon a time the metalheads and punk rockers were at odds, with naught but Motorhead to bridge the two. These days you can’t turn around without hitting a band that blends metal and punk. Annihilation Time were an excellent example of a combo that blends Black Sabbath and Black Flag, but their successors in Lecherous Gaze seem to have re-oriented their rock jones to the longhaired set. Specifically I’m guessing that a lot of time was spent listening to the MC5 before the band coughed up their high-energy debut EP. Stuff like the handclaps on lead track ‘Phaze’, the declamatory vocals of singer Lakis Panagiotopulos, or the ‘Teenage Lust’ referencing of R’N’R’ Lust’ make their debt to Detroit’s finest plain (there’s a bit of a Glenn Danzig thing going on with Panagiotopulos’ pipes as well). The band has other influences, of course: The screaming fuzz that kicks off ‘Graveyard’ is as clear a Jimi Hendrix tribute as you’ll find. No wonder that guitarist Graham Clise has been snaffled by J Mascis to swing his axe in Witch and Sweet Apple. It’s one thing to love something and another to do it, but the band comes through in spades, particularly in the final blowout of ‘R’n’R’ Lust’, where they declare their underlying affection for the form, and possibly burn out a fuzzbox or two. A very promising taster of things to come.

Track Listing:-