Killdozer
Intellectuals Are The Shoeshine Boys Of The Ruling Elite/Snakeboy

THE REVIEW

The Killdozer are a creation of Michael Gerald, a mathematics professor, marxist, and with a passion for the rawest rock imaginable. The group’s influences, not coincidentally, include "Captain Beefheart" ferrying the "Birthday Party" to a party hosted by the "Cramps".

The album presents itself as a double album, but the records were released separately—the first one on Bone-Air in '84, while the second came out on Touch and Go the following year. From the very beginning, the group has been categorized in the hardcore pot more for their attitude than for musical reasons. Indeed, the sound is often slowed down upon a frantic drumming and delirious screams, almost demented and paranoid, from Gerald, sometimes with sudden accelerations only to slow down again, thus creating a hypnotic and tense atmosphere.

The lyrics are some of the grittiest one might dare; in fact, Jesus Lizard would also take musical inspiration from them, with titles like "Man of Meat", "Ed Gein", "King of Sex", they also take it upon themselves to mangle songs like "Cinnamon Girl" and "Run Through the Jungle".

In short, this record succeeds in crushing pop, rock, metal, and punk all at once. They will always remain confined to the underground, while bands like Butthole Surfers and Jesus Lizard, both indebted to Killdozer and, like them, signed to Touch and Go, will succeed in breaking through.