Freak Kitchen - "Cooking With Pagans"

Freak Kitchen - Cooking With Pagans
2014, Laser's Edge

1. Professional Help
2. Freak of the Week
3. Sloppy
4. Goody Goody
5. (Saving Up For An) Anal Bleach
6. Private Property
7. Mathematics of Defeat
8. I Don't Want To Golf
9. Hide
10. Comeback to Come Back
11. Ranks of the Terrified
12. Once Upon a Time in Scandinaviastan

Here's the weird thing about Cooking With Pagans - I'm kind of disappointed with it, but there's technically nothing wrong with it. The guitar work and vocals are stellar. The songs are good. I really like "Mathematics of Defeat" and "Hide." However, I feel like I'd pretty much digested everything this album had to offer in a few listens. It felt light... like there's not enough meat on the chicken bone. I'm not sure what the deal is. It's probably me. Kudos to them for having one of the weirdest song titles I've heard: "(Saving Up For An) Anal Bleach."

Useless Fact: There's a video for "Freak of the Week" that has some stunning animation in it. You should go watch it immediately.

Freak Kitchen - "Land of the Freaks"

Freak Kitchen - Land of the Freaks
2012, Laser's Edge

1. God Save the Spleen
2. Hip Hop Hooray
3. Teargas Jazz
4. Sick (Death By Hypochondria)
5. OK
6. Honey, You're a Nazi
7. The Only Way
8. Murder Groupie
9. The Smell of Time
10. One Last Dance
11. Do Not Disturb
12. Clean It Up

Freak Kitchen is a fun little band. They've got a progressive metal/rock vibe, an 80's rock vibe, and sometimes a dance/pop vibe. These three influences are blended into some of the most interesting and infectious music I've heard in a while. The album starts off with the pounding "God Save the Spleen" then follows that up with the more pop "Hip Hop Hooray." The third track, "Teargas Jazz" is a bit more progressive but every bit as catchy. These songs stay in your head for days. You'd think because of some of the flippant song titles that the band would be a bunch of goofballs. Well, they kinda are - the lyrics are smart alecky and clever, but the topics they tackle are pretty serious. From black market organ transplants to racism to personal responsibility, they cover a bevy of subjects. They have a way of making you laugh but thinking as well.

Useless Fact: "Teargas Jazz" seems to be about the band being in Dehli when the Danish cartoonist published those cartoons that made Muslims mad. They were stuck in this country at the time, apparently trying to convince people that they weren't Danish. They tell it better in the song though.