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Reviews
Maximum
Rock N Roll (USA)
"Sounds
like SLAYER but more heavy... I'm trying to find a more appropriate way to describe
SMP but as each song ends , I just think SLAYER. I like SLAYER,so I think this
is pretty darn good. Nothing newer than "South of Heaven"
Fracture
There's
a lot of people talking about this band at the moment and rightly
so. This CD is hilarious Totally SLAYER worship going on here
with solos galore and an urgency to get through the songs as fast
as possible. Thrash all the way. The lyrics and live performances
have gotten them tagged with the term 'zombie-core' and if anyone
deserves it, this lot surely do. Every song on here is about Zombies
and it's just sheer comedy. After the carnage of the music is
over there's a story about a guy escaping from some zombies and
recalling his horrors to the driver. Straight out of any cheesy
80's gore film. The whole things comes packaged with lots of graphics
of zombies. If you have a sense of humour and can handle a dose
of metal you must get a copy of this. One of the brightest hopes
for the UK at the moment. (FU)
Rue
Morgue (Great Horror Mag From the Canada)
A
rabid appetite for ‘80s thrash metal and living dead movies
earned this UK hardcore act the label “zombie core”.
Works for me; after all, they’ve taken their name from a
quote in “Return Of The Living Dead”, and songs like
The Hordes, The Pain Of Being Dead and the eleven-second Brains
only marginally illustrate how much into zombies these guys are.
The lads churn up a violent stew of bonecrushing hardcore peppered
with lots of Slayer and Exodus, and the singer sounds like he’s
got a couple of clothespins on his cojones (hey, it works). our
compliments to the chef; Send More Paramedics are the kings of
zombiecore! 5/5
Kerrang
KKKK
B-movie thrashcore antics from threatical
Yorkshiremen, Seriously.
SEND MORE PARAMEDICS absolutely f**king love zombies,
and their low-budget B-movie incarnations in particular. Nearly every song on
this album pays tribute to the undead, but luckily this is no half baked Misfits
rip-off. The Leeds based quartet instead get their musical fire from '80s thrash,
with Exodus and Dark Angel being the most evident influences. And with a vocallist
who sounds like he trapped a bollock in his flies on the way to the studio, this
is thoroughly deranged metallic hardcore and ripples with the kind of psychotic
urgency that so many like-minded bands fail to muster.
Send More Paramedics'
gore splattered live shows are, apparently, now approaching legendary status.
Now the band have consolidated this growing reputation with an outrageous, offal-soaked
belter of a debut album. Zombie-tastic.
DOM LAWSON Screaming
Bloody Mess (Australia)
These guys have been heavily influenced
by 80's style thrash hardcore and brain-splattered, gore-drenched zombie b movies.
Which is a great thing in my book. Unlike the Misfits who sucked big time on a
lot of songs these loons go nuts with crazy guitar solos and theatrics. It's thrash
but every song is about zombies. Their live show is meant to involve a lot of
props and litres of fake blood. Zombie core is rad! - Tim Scott Mass
Movement
The
infamous thrash zombies awaken and deliver their Slayer inspired thrash unto the
world of the living! Happiness is a fresh corpse, or so I've been told, and if
that's what these guys lave been feasting on, then I can't fault the logic! Demented,
spastic thrash that infests your CD player and won't let you remove the vessel
that carried the infestation. That's my excuse anyway... - Tim Cop-Out
Magazine
This
is fucking amazing. Excuse my French but it is, simple as that. Imagine primal
Slayer fronted by what can only be described as a teenager who has obviously yet
to eat his first gravel breakfast. Classic thrash tastic, riffs the Bay Area would
have died for and well executed too, with hardcore angsty punk vocals, genius.
I guess the vocals will kill some passion held high in regard for these riffs
come post twenty minutes of this album, so its not for everyone and it's that
alone that stops it getting the full marks. Though, it's opening
riff alone will make you want to own this record. - 9/10
Darell E Ganapo
Raw
Nerve
Send more Paramedics are something
of a cult band here in Leeds, appearing at shows in full Zombie
get up, bringing the singer on stage in a body bag etc, delighting
with the mad stage shows and crazy dancing crowds that follow.
It's all great fun, immensely cool metal, just how we love it.
Part
of me was not wanting to listen to this, to not spoil the effect
of the live performance, for some reason I was thinking the recording
would lose something of the energy and the sheer madness and just
not work as well without the visual goings-on. But
it does. Very well in fact. Aside from a decent but could have
been better production, needing to be more full, this kicks ass
completely. Frantic widdley solos all over the place, creepy,
eerie, metal as hell riffs ala early Slayer (South of Heaven,
Hell awaits era), mix in a good old dose of old school hardcore
vocals and gang vocals, and more speedily and well played thrashiness,
and Send More Paramedics have recreated the live madness really
well. Some incredible artwork goes along with this, keeping the
zombie feasting theme alive. All tongue in cheek.
Maybe. "Cannibal" is a wicked song, perfect driving
material methinks, "Kingdom of the undead" is a favourite
also, and also "Zombie Sweetheart" and of course "Zombified",
all having some storming riffage. Also there are some great little
ideas, and original sections in amongst the metal, some clever
construction of songs, and pieces, see "The night has a thousand
eyes" for an example. SMP seem to relish in doing things
differently with the original ideas that they came up with for
a band, they have expanded really well and work just as well on
record as they do live. "Epulum" is a great little spooky
sequence before true Slayer style "Show no mercy" era
worship comes along in "Necromancer". The bonus track
sounds like a massive film script, very well put together, and
the parts are played well, if sounds homegrown, and if it is,
it would be quality to see the actual film of the commentary.
For those that don't know SMP, but love old school thrash, grab
hold of this. This won't be to everyones taste, even in the hardcore
or metal world. I think the vocals and general sound might be
offputting at times to people, and I would love to hear the Paramedics
with a bigger sound, but as a debut, and as something aside from
the greatness of the live experience, this rules.
Inside
Knowledge #7
(Holland)
I have been playing this record over and over again.
Who ever came up with a great and unexpected mix of Slayer and
American Nightmare? And that's not all they have created an image
that would fit a psycho band better. Fast and furious 80's metal
(in the vein of Slayer's "Show No Mercy" or "Hell
Waits"), with total old school vocals, and guest performances
by Zombies. I reckon they have totally put the UK punk scene upside
down, because face it; it actually is metalcore, but of a new
breed. A better breed, and they eat brains to get this far. If
you're not afraid, try it, and if you like it consult a doctor.
Okay gotta, i have to meet mine in an hour!
Derelictuk
The main gripe I have about Send More Paramedics
I that the idiot people of this world simply don’t take
them seriously. Yes they dress up like the undead hicks and stagger
around playing songs about devouring human flesh. But god damn
it, if you actually see them play it becomes a lot harder to write
them off as merely “zombies playing slayer”. Sure
its all skin-eating fun but at the same time, Send More Paramedics
are an important progression in hardcore music. For a start, they’re
having fun and truly do not give a shit what you might think (admittedly
because their only concerns are the consuming of fresh meat and
the spreading of their foul zombie virus). Secondly their live(!)
show is just one of the greatest spectacles around today; victim-chasing,
blood spilled, bodies lurching, its all there. But finally and
most importantly, Send More Paramedics play very good music. The
screams on songs like ‘Resurrection Cemetery’ would
wake even the soundest sleeping corpse; the gang vocals by the
‘back-ups from beyond’ are great and the riffage!
The riffage! The beauty of thrash integrated flawlessly into hardcore
which will hopefully influence a new breed of fresh young blood.
Plus to cap it all off, the bonus track is a terrifying zombie
scene lasting twenty-odd minutes. What more could you possibly
ask for? Call
it zombie-core, call it splatter-core, call it whatever you wish.
It won’t matter; Send More Paramedics are still going to
eat your brains. (There is also an interview with SMP up on this
site click on site name)
Playdead
Ok, so this is not exactly
a new release but for the line "if music be the sound of death - play on"
it deserves a review. So you must of heard of these guys by now so I guess there's
not a lot to say. They dress up as zombies and play old skool style thrash, and
it rules. These 12 tracks sum this idea up perfectly and far from being merely
a novelty act, this album backs up the idea behind the band with a perfect musical
accompaniment that rocks just about as hard as it gets. And that's it, so don't
be a fool these people deserve your money for being the genius idea they are,
so just buy it. Seriously they'll probably eat your brains if you don't. (MB) Reason
To Believe
Zombies,
metal, headbands, facemasks. fake blood - sound appealing? Read on. What started
as a project band has now escalated into constant gigging and this full length
CD. Imagine MINOR THREAT playing SLAYER songs whilst enacting a scene from Day
Of The Dead and you wouldn't be a million miles awayfrom the Paramedics. (SH) Inside
Knowledge (Holland)
I
have been playing this record over and over again. Who ever came up with a great
and unexpected mix of Slayer and American Nightmare? And that’s not all they
have created an image that would fit a psycho band better. Fast and furious 80’s
metal (in the vein of Slayer’s “Show No Mercy” or “Hell Awaits”),
with total old school vocals, and guest performances by zombies, ghosts, psycho’s
and other creatures of the night. I reckon they have totally put the UK punk scene
upside down, because face it; it actually is metalcore, but of a new breed. A
better breed, and they ate brains to get this far. If you’re not afraid,
try it, and if you like it consult a doctor. Okay gotta go, I have to meet my
paramedic in an hour.
Martijn Welzen Collective
Zine
Now we're
facking well talking. This truly, truly marvellous little Zombie-core endeavour
has, for the last couple of weeks, had me grinning like a twat, pulling sudden
and involuntary 90 degree invisible-guitar moves, slamming desks, rolling eyes
and yelling "ONLY THE TASTE OF BRAINS CAN EASE THE PAIN!!" without warning
at my bemused colleagues. And it can do the same for you! The skinny: 80s power-thrash
homage with more chug than a knackered Volvo, wailing high-end hammer-on licks
all over the fucking shop, tunes so damn catchy they'll end up randomly derailing
your train of thought at innapropriate moments, and lyrics that really, truly
capture what it is to be a Zombie: "The Pain of Being Dead", "The
Night Has A Thousand Eyes", "Aim for the Head", all highly emotional
treatises on unfulfilled desire, belonging, community, unacceptance by mainstream
society and suchlike. 'Cannibal' in particular is extremely moving ("Ripping
off your head/Sucking out your eyes/Tearing all the muscle from your jaw");
and crying out, as much of this does, for some kind of karaoke version complete
with bouncing lyric ball for play-along-at-home group-shout backups action. It's
tight as y'like, lightning fast, gets a damn good mosh on at frequent intervals
and has a nice punk-budget dirt to it recording-wise that too much polished metal
misses. I ain't too up on my 80s thrash to be honest, but the one thing this did
remind me of in particular was an old Thrasher Noise Forest tape my old pal Kelvin
used to have, which was dead boss, as, most assuredly, is this. A joke dumb band?
It would be pretty bloody stupid to argue otherwise frankly, but they've made
a properly great, fun record worth plenty of repeated listens, are playing a truckload
of shows (featuring full zombie clobber, severed heads and evryfink!!) and have
the best name I can think of to boot (although I can't think that well right now
cos I just keep hearing them screaming "If humans be the food of me, scream
on!!" over and over). Send me more 'Paramedics records!!
- Tom Hughes Scruffster
Tricky one to suss out this lot. Are they a hardcore band playing B-Movie Zombie
obsessed thrash metal? Are they a thrash metal band playing B-Movie Zombie obsessed
hardcore? Or are they B-Movie Zombies playing… no that's just plain daft.
Must stop analysing and talking shit. No fuck it, they're a John Peel late 80's
style hardcore holocaust - a band that could nestle in comfortably amongst the
likes of The Stupids and Doctor & The Crippens and Deviated Instinct and Carcass
on one of those Strange Fruit compilations. This is a nod back to the encrusted
age of UK squat core, wrapped up in a gloriously cheeeezy B Movie stylee imagery.
It's all Zombies and comic gore and Bay Area riffs and crossover and old school
hardcore vox and The Pain of Being Dead and Zombie Sweethearts. Musically this
is brilliant, lyrically it's the same. Aesthetically it's the fucking business.
Fun, cheeze and flesh eating all in the same place at the same time. Terrorizer
Far removed from the 'ironic' 80s metal fixations manifesting themselves in some
areas og the cheeze-punk scene, and indeed the increasing prevalence of Gothenbergisms
in hardcore, there are some simplier concerns lurking. Take Send More Paramedics;
some British hardcore kids who are clearly merely hell-bent on telling the world
how much they dig 80's thrash metal and zombies. Similarily to Teen Ctuhlhu's
relationship with black metal, da 'Medics' are still recognisably a hardcore act
(check those hoarsely bellowed vocals), but the band have a fine ear for a killer
Bay Area-style riff, as well as a cheerfully gonzoid attitude that's hard to resist
(take the ten send odd 'Brains' for example) and the kind of whammy bar theatrics
in the guitar department that many of us haven't heard since 1991. Unfortunately,
the band are hamstrung by a change for a fiver production job. Play this next
to The Haunted' and it sounds like a dictaphone playing the 'Rivers Edge' soundtrack
from the bottom of a dustbin, but then this is also the appeal. Like the cheap,
tacky horror films the band love, the low budget nature of this collection of
energetic spazz-outs is an inherent part of its appeal. Keep an eye on this 'un,
it could turn ugly. - Jim Martin 7.5/10 Enough
Zine (Germany)
Halloween is just
around the corner, and this might be the perfect soundtrack... Imagine
Slayer’s Reign in Blood with the production of their debut “Show no
mercy” and you nearly are where Send More Paramedics are Caught
In The Crossfire (Skate/Punk Magazine)
As soon as the first riff comes in on this CD, you know what’s coming! To
put it bluntly, you get a full fucking dose of Slayer inspired thrash metal on
par with the legends themselves.. It’s been a while since I have heard something
that is so metal that you feel at home with. The guitar solo’s are screaming
down your ears and are out of control, the drums are foot to the blood spilled
floor, the bass is pounding and as for lyrics and vocals, if you like the darkness
of zombies and death, well this is right up your tombstone! My fave track on this
12-track album is called “Cannibal”. With the chorus of “I’m
gonna eat you alive” you just wanna rip your bedroom apart! Other tracks
have titles like “Brains”, “Kingdom of the Undead” and “Resurrection
Cemetery” and are all straight ahead, mach 10, speed metal that rocks. Don’t
piss about. Just go and buy this record today before they break out of your speakers
and kill you! Metal has never tasted this good.
Decavity
Send More Paramedics are either four gore obsessed freaks, or
just four normal people getting together to make music they love
and just having a great time, I really think it’s a bit of
both. This record really packs a punch right in the face, Slayer
like riffs, with vocals that scream about eating flesh. With tracks
like the ultra fast ‘Brains’ this album keeps you listening,
I’m not even a big metal fan and this album keeps me interested
throughout, mixing up elements of early raging hardcore with extreme
metal. Special mention has to go to the extra track, which is
over 20 minutes, featuring a story, which I won’t go into
details here but you have to listen to it, for it to be believed,
great album.
Organ
Zine
Gore drenched 80's style bee-trapped-in-a-jar style hardcore shouty
thrash. Insane deranged vocals, extreme noise metallica for old
school DRI/Slayer heads everywhere.
RockUK
If there is one word that could describe send more paramedics, it would have to
be ZOMBIES. Their onstage personas is of zombies, all the lyrics are about zombies
and everything about them (even the fact their first ever gig was on Halloween)
revolves around Zombies. Featuring members of possibly the UK's best emo band
"and none of them knew they were robots" and being produced by Robots
lead singer Kev (well so I'm told), this band already shows a huge potential to
produce something good. Will this actually succeed and become one of the front
runners in the UK underground scene or will it just end up a boring side project?
Starting off with "the Hordes", your hit by some eerie sounding feedback
which introduces you to a nifty Slayer esque guitar riff. After a few pummelling
guitar riffs the vocals are introduced, and they certainly are good, very raw
and pissed off it is a refreshing change to hear a raw voice on CD in a time where
most bands over produce themselves just to produce a very digital fake sounding
voice. With lyrics like "when there's no more room in hell, the dead will
walk the earth" it is obvious their not trying to create rocket science with
this release, just a nice heavy pummelling song about zombies and gore. I certainly
hope it carries on like this, so far Thumbs up.
The Pain of Being Dead and
Cannibal are quite similar sound wise (as if most of this album, which at times
is it's downfall). Very fast and very much in the style of 80's thrash mixed with
hardcore music, it's certainly no holds barred. Whilst the next song "brains"
is a 11 second affair featuring a sample from a zombie film followed by the lovely
screeching vocals of "brains, brains, Brains BRAINSSSSSS", simple and
cheesy, but you can't help but enjoy it.
"Resurrection Cemetery"
is once again another simple affair of mixing the bands love for zombies flicks
and slayer esque music, containing almost squealing vocal at the start with slow
yet powerful guitars and painful drums, this song is very good from start to finish,
one of my favourites. Next track "Kingdom of the Undead" starts off
with a sample from the film "night of the living dead" this song is
just amazing, very heavy with very good constructed guitar parts, this song is
just a prime example of how good thrash metal can be when it's done properly.
"Epulum" is just very peaceful and eerie piece of music, mixing some
very ghoul like vocals with some sort of chiming background sound I guess you
could call it an interlude. A certain good break from the rest of the album and
a good intro for "Necromancer", which is just a basic full out assault
on all that's good. Very heavy with crunching riffs galore, this certainly brings
the album back to it's original state, but doing so also brings up it's downfall
again, all the songs do sound identical, which can become boring but lucky for
us the album is short enough to get away with it.
And the album just follows
a very similar pattern after this; "The night of a Thousand Eyes" is
just a shout fest. "Zombie sweetheart" is a zombie love song; "aim
for the head" is an 8-second hyperactive song. And the final track "zombiefied
is full out, powerful yet catchy track with the great singalong lyric "we're
zombiefied". And finally track 13 is a secret track, I won't spoil it for
anyone, but I suggest anyone who buys this Album listen to the WHOLE TRACK, it's
certainly good.
Overall this album is great, catchy, angry piece of music.
Yes the whole idea of basing a band and album on zombies is cheesy, but it's sure
fun. If you enjoy fast paced metal or hardcore music this release will certainly
interest you. I suggest you check this band out live before you purchase this
though, because if the spectacular live performance doesn't sell the band to you,
nothing will.
Stand out tracks: Resurrection Cemetery, Kingdom of the Undead,
Zombiefied
Rating: 8/10
by Eddie Johnson Rancid
News
This band have an uncanny resemblence
to Slayer. They have that whole reverbed riff followed by short thrashy rhythm
and fiddly solos. They do however have an odd fixation with Zombies which is quite
amusing as the entire album (and the story on the vocal track) is all about cannibalistic
zombies. There is a feel that they have tried to incorporate a spookier feel to
their music which gives them their own unique feel with grating vocals, slower
more menacing parts to the music, and a whole compliment of screams and samples
taken from old horror movies. When you actually sit down and listen to the way
the music is played there is actually quite alot of variance from the fast as
fuck style riff to some bouncier, boardering on grindy, riffs. All in all this
is a really good debut album, even if somewhat onetrack minded, and, although,
to the lazy listener they sound very similar to Slayer (which is not necessarily
a bad thing) they do have their own sound and the raw production helps accentuate
this.
Artcore
"Butcher, angel of death, the way I want you to die!" spits the opening
line of this collection of intense sonic metallic blasts - ha ha ha! Send More
Paramedics are into their 80's metal, but in a more UK DIY hardcore punk underground
way, with punk production and shoebox drums. Imagine if you will, a mix of Slayer,
Imbalance & Flix Of Pink Indians, and that's what they sound like! Here they've
written an entire album around the concept of zombies and themes surrounding the
rising of the cannibalistic undead. There's even a cool as fuck 20 minute radio-style
zombie story at the end of the CD, with what must be two of the members acting
out their parts in a chilling ghoulish tale of mindless violence and gore. Obviously
zombie and comic book graphics abound on this CD, which if course, gets my vote,
and all in all it's good to see a band make a bit of an effort rather than just
knock out their 'Rock Hits' and slap a picture of an escalator on the front cover. Slug
& Lettuce (USA)
This
started out with a Slayer riff straight off South Of Heaven and broke into a fairly
fast metallic thrash part but then started sounding like a System Of A Down. Seriously
if you're in a rut and dying to hear that kind of thing check this out. Allschool
(Germany)
Das England die abgefahrensten Bands hat, war mir schon länger
klar - Send More Paramedics sind hier ganz klar mit an der Spitze dabei. Noch
nie von der Band gehört prügeln sie sich hier mit ihren 13 Songs und
ihrem 80is Trash-Metal Core durch. Immer wieder schaurige Samples werden dadurch
erklärt das die Band einen Hang zu Zombie Filmen und dem ganzen Gruselkram
hat. Ihre erste Show war an Halloween 2001 und seit dem touren sie konstant durch
die UK. Live muss die Band eine recht fette Show hinlegen wovon wir uns hoffentlich
im neuen Jahr selber ein Bild von machen können, denn die Jungs planen gerade
eine Europatour.
Die Texte sind recht wirr und das Artwork im Frankenstein
Style passte genau. Eine witzige CD die man sich zwischen durch schon mal gut
reinziehen kann! 7/10 Simone Punknews
Feedback reminiscent of the opening to 'Holiday
in Cambodia' brings this album in, after which the listener is treated to 12 tracks
of Discharge-esque speed metal embellished in places with fantastic pedalled lead
guitar and piano. The lyrics (along with frequent spoken interludes) are bloody,
gory and pulled from a dozen B Movies, reminiscent of the Misfits at their most
despicable.
Oestrogen fuelled AFI
this aint. But the music, despite being A-Grade Hardcore, is not the lingering
impression of this record. Instead, those patient to leave the album on for a
while after the music ends will find some seriously spine chilling dialogue, my
first impression of which was the Archers gone very very bad. It sounds like the
Paramedics have have concocted and performed this themselves. The story goes like
this: A young lad has been found on the side of a road in deepest New Mexico.
As he recounts his tale to the cops that pick him up it becomes apparent that
a bunch of walking corpses or 'unholy living dead' (the worst kind i presume!)
seem to have broken out of a govenment facility and are rampaging through the
desert munching all the humans in their path. I'll leave the ending to the imagination...
This kind of thing runs
the risk of sounding like one of David St. Hubbins' poorer ideas but SMP pull
it off well, and while I wasnt exactly cacking my combats (in fear) over either
performance, both the music and the script are menacing propositions. Fans of
Horror films and Hardcore should definitely buy. As the youngster in their script
asks 'Have you ever seen a human skull cracked in half?'. Stick this up on full
volume and you will. |
£7
€11
$14
£9