A wise band once said, “All we need is a punch in the face”. That’s exactly what Frenzal Rhomb provides with their latest effort The Cup of Pestilence. Australia’s finest pick up where they left off on Smoko at the Pet Food Factory and Hi Vis High Tea, ripping through 19 songs in 32 minutes. A sonic punch in the face, if you will. The tone is set as the album opens with the lightning fast lead single “Where Drug Dealers Take Their Kids”, which is followed by the somehow even faster “Gone to the Dogs” (honestly, almost every song on this record is fast as fuck, so I’m gonna try to refrain from using that as a descriptor going forward).
“The Wreckage” proves Frenzal Rhomb is the only band that can write a love song with the word “cunt” sprinkled quite liberally throughout its lyrics (upon subsequent listens I’ve determined this is about a bromance, not a love song, but I’m too lazy to rephase this so fuck it). Other tracks like “Dead Man’s Underpants”, “Lil Dead$hit”, “Dog Tranquilizer”, and “I Think My Neighbour is Planning to Kill Me” provide a dose of the absurdist comic relief fans have always been able to expect from Frenzal. “Horse Meat” recounts the tale of a vegan who relapsed and “went from tofu salad straight to horse meat”, while “How to Make Gravox” pays tribute to the band’s favorite canned gravy product. It’s world-shaking stuff, if I’m being honest.
“Fireworks”, “Hospitality and Violence”, and “Finally I Can Get Arrested In This Town” power through the next stanza of The Cup of Pestilence with even more three part vocal harmonies and blues-on-speed guitar leads from The Doctor, backed by rapid fire drumming, courtesy of the fucken Metrognome Gordy Forman. All three songs are about a minute and 30 seconds long; blink and you’ll miss ’em. Most importantly, I believe “Those People” sets a new record for the number of times “cunt” has been used in a Frenzal Rhomb song, but who’s counting? Wait a second, I am! The word “cunt” is uttered approximately 22 times in this song. For comparison’s sake, “World’s Fuckedest Cunt” has a mere 13 cunts; “Cunt Act” closes the gap a bit with 18 cunts.
When it comes to its sonic qualities, The Cup of Pestilence pretty much sounds exactly the same as Frenzal Rhomb’s last two records. The band made the trek overseas to record in the friendly confines of The Blasting Room, where they previously recorded Smoko and Hi Vis, with Bill Stevenson once again handling production. All that’s really changed is they’ve got a new bassist in Michael Dallinger, but he’s been in the band going on four years now (and used to be in an excellent band named after Frenzal’s “Local Resident Failure”). Let me be clear, though: when I say this record sounds the same as the last two, that’s a good thing. Those records kicked ass. Unsurprisingly, this one kicks ass, too.
The one bone I’ll pick with The Cup of Pestilence (and I’m really grasping at the shortest of straws here) is it’s somewhat lacking in variety compared to Hi Vis High Tea. Of course, most of that album was blazing fast skate punk, but songs like “Beer and a Shot”, “The Black Prince”, “Messed Up”, and “Food Court” offered a refreshing change of pace and allowed you to take a breather between headbanging sessions on “Classic Pervert”, “Storage Unit Pill Press”, etc. Outside of “Deathbed Darren” and brief intros on “Old Mate Neck Tattoo” and the album closing “Thought It Was Yoga But It Was Ketamine”, The Cup of Pestilence does not afford you the same luxury. But I’m sure that’s what the people want, and in all likelihood Frenzal Rhomb based their decision to make a purely balls-to-the-wall record on extensive market research. Alas, I was not present at that board meeting.
Well, it’s time to give the album a score. Let’s go with 4 out of 5 Star Emojis ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ That’s a nice round number, innit?
The Cup of Pestilence arrives April 7th on Fat Wreck Chords. Pre-order the record here (US), here (EU), or here (AUS).