Turbonegro
Ass Cobra

THE REVIEW

After the explosive "Hot Cars And Spent Contraceptives" and a not exceptional "Never Is Forever", the Norwegian combo returns to delight the palates of all "deathpunk" fans (the style our guys love to define their music by) with their masterpiece and one of the best punk albums of the '90s: "Ass Cobra".

Homosexual sailors, denim demons, uncontrollable erections, broken bottles up the ass, and North Americans resembling Marlon Brando await you in the politically incorrect, outrageous, and obscene world of the Oslo band.

With this album, Turbonegro draws from the punk of bands like Black Flag, Poison Idea, and in general all the American hardcore of the '80s, as well as the proto-punk of groups like the Dictators, the Stooges, and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, mixed with a bit of hard rock and metal (Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Motorhead): this is ultimately the deathpunk of which our guys are the undisputed heralds: Alice Cooper making a CD with Poison Idea.

The tracks flow one after the other like a joy, without giving you time to realize what's happening. Songs like "Midnight Nambla" "Denim Demon" and "Just Flesh" are adrenaline-charged, high-speed punk-rock bursts flavored with the rough guitars of Rune Rebellion and Pol Pot Pamparius (Euroboy is not yet part of the group) and the absolutely ungraceful voice of Hank from Hell. The lyrics are extremely vulgar and politically incorrect, as in "Deathtime", a slow punk with a killer pace, "Shaking hands with Morrisey sucking cocks in east Africa ask a lesbian for a fuck take a shower in Auschwitz it’s death time", or in "I Got Erection" with a riff impossible to get out of your head, reminiscent of the legendary Poison Idea of "Plastic Bomb", illustrating all that gives Hank (the singer, in case you forgot) a flag-raising: among things like hitting women and listening to the beloved deathpunk sound.

Other gems of the album include the Ramones-esque "Sailor Man": a love song dedicated to a sailor, and the hardcore diatribes dedicated to nerds and kids in general: respectively "Hobbit Motherfuckers" and "Turbonegro Hates The Kids". There are also three covers: "Raggare Is A Bunch Of Motherfucker" by the Swedish The Rude Kids, "Mobile Home" by the Americans The Lewds, and "Young Boys Feet" by the historic The Dicks.

What to say about this album, I personally love it and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a certain '80s hardcore contaminated by rock à la Poison Idea and tacky hard rock metal.

Turbonegro is a very serious band in not taking themselves seriously, and if you're not scared by the homosexual image they proudly flaunt, the absolutely obscene lyrics devoid of any moral, combined with an original punk sound that rehashes hackneyed clichés, then dive onto the next copy of this immense gem (the cover is also a parody/homage of the much more famous "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys) and put on your full denim outfit, hoping the deathpunk paladins will return to Italy to delight us live as well.

In my opinion, ultimately the best punk album (a term that is too narrow given all the contaminations in their sound) of the last twenty years and without a doubt the best deathpunk album in the history of music.