Gehennah
King Of The Sidewalk

The Motörhead on amphetamines, the Venom more punkish, the Exciter drunk; it's easy to spot the influences of Gehennah, a band of roughnecks that from 1991 to today (barring occasional breakups) is an essential reference point for metalheads devoted to the trinity of Alcohol-Whores-Satan. Even easier is to turn off your brain and let this "King of the Sidewalk" transport you back to the happy times when you were 16 and getting drunk on Eurospin beer while listening to "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith" as if there were no tomorrow.

The second full-length from the band, released in '96, KotS is an explosive and pounding mix of thrash/speed metal/punk, half an hour of blasphemous roughness at a tupa-tupa pace; very few slowdowns ("Bitch With A Bulletbelt"), obvious references (in "Rock n' Roll Patrol" and "Saturday Night Blasphemer" it really sounds like Lemmy is singing), immense fun. From the opening with the already mentioned "Rock n' Roll Patrol", which couldn't be more Motörhead-like, to the (explosive) finale of "Demolition Team", passing through absolute peaks of crudeness like the anthem "Bang Your Heads For Satan" and the cover of "(You're the) Devil In Disguise", Gehennah play their cards well and mask a certain underlying redundancy with deadly momentum and irresistible cheekiness.

Give them a chance, listen to "King of the Sidewalk", pop open a cheap beer and let the metalhead in you come out for once. And remember: every time you listen to Gehennah, a Dream Theater fan faints.