Album Review: Boobs of Doom – Universal Monsters (Self Released)

12 albums. 12 months. Throughout ALL of 2019.

What a plan from Boobs of Doom, a sensational amalgamation of depressive drone, doom, death, distortion and much more. Their 12 albums, 12-month plan is something truly unique and it has certainly got our attention. However, the reasoning behind it is best described by the band themselves:

“Five years weev been at this. Still not dead yet; which is surprising to us considering the lengths those years went to to try and break us. 2018 was a proper hateful cunt-lump of a year for us Boobs: We lost too many furbabies; too many funerals; too many abhorrent political crooks running the shitshow (THE FILTH!); too many bloody horrible sheeple complicitly lapping up the shite (THE SCUM); rapidly declining chronic health issues, diseases and new afflictions; and far FAR too much fucking PAIN!

Squinting out at the world in 2018 from a haze of brainfog, canabis and prescription painkillers, we never thought we’d get so fatigued hating stupid stuff, but everything fatigues us these days. which amounted to only one cassette release (YO, ODD CHORUS PEEPS!) and a 2 track album for charidee. The only thing we were really thankful to 2018 for was all the support for Carrie’s Fund. Carrie hit her gofundme target and got the surgery she needed. Fuck knows how we’d have handled it if she hadn’t. Regardless, thankya-hjoojbig to all the BODies who contributed or helped spread the word.

We digress.

Time was we had a reputation for being prolific and could punt oot anything up to 4 albums (and a mixtape in a pear tree!) per year. Circumstances being what they are, our output was waaaay below our weird self-imposed projections/deadlines.

In lieu of all this we ought to be planning our jump off some high cliffs, but no. We have elected to celebrate 5 years as a band instead. so, here it is:

In reality, we embedded secret knowledge, subliminal messages, psychic vampirism and theta wave manipulation into one great big 13 hour long album, chopped into chunks and are dribbling them out over the year. The concept is that if it gets enough simultaneous listeners, the themes and ideas encoded within the music and art will resonate on a global scale and kickstart the next strange stage of human (r)evolution! Unless yr a Greedhead or the FILTH, in that case yr head will explode. Cool, huh? Grand concepts R US. LOL. Weer setting ourselves up to fail but that’s okay.

In practice, each ‘album ‘(..,’episode’, ‘segment’ or whatever pretentious bollocks title we eventually decide is cannon) will be musically and thematically different from the last and you should come to recognise them each as a different aspect of our oeuvre; psychedelic / dub / heavy / drone / soundtrack / doom etcetera. There’s even a ‘pop’ album. 12 of the fuckers. Yaaaas. You lucky BODies! We’ll warn ye now: this shit might fuck you up …in a good way ….maybe…

Part one, entitled “esc.” was January’s release and you can read our review here. February’s was Terror Management Theory at you can read that review here. Aonach Eagach was March’s entry and you can read that review here. April’s release was called wEIRD aRT rIOT and you can read that review here. May’s release was called Sorcerer and you can read that review here.

Which brings us to the half way point. June’s release was called Skeleton Jazz Wizard and you can read that review here. July’s release was called Endless Doomlord Syndrome and you can read that review here. August’s release was called Sedation of the Ancients and you can read that review here.

As Autumn approaches and nights draw in we have September’s release to make the chill that little more bearable.

Can you believe we’re 9 months into this 12 month trip? 9 albums into the 12 album extravaganza delivered by Boobs of Doom?! What a journey it has been and amazingly, I’ve not got sick of them yet and September’s release, Universal Monsters isn’t going to change that. In fact, this might be their most accomplished release of the 9 so far.

If that’s not something you can agree with, something everyone will be able too is that the opener ‘The Karmadillo’ is up there as one of the best tracks Boobs of Doom have done. For those who have been following along, it is very familiar in style with eerie effects, bursts of noise and a constantly evolving sound. However, the bass here is out of this world and it has actually got some really uplifting moments. It’s such an excellent track.

There’s a darkness growing in Universal Monsters though and it begins to peep above the parapet within The Interior League. Boobs of Doom relish the mind-f**k of it all. The beeps within The Skogkatten incredibly distracting. The disjointed chaos of the super-short, The Feg and La Sorgina’s haunting female vocals layered over a very moody beat.

Continuing to showcase their incredible abilities to surprise, The Phegmling is a lighter and more mellow track book-ended by their usual brand of fuzzy noise. The Goth Molloch’s odd computerised sounds and drifting effects combine to deliver an exceptionally dark listen. Before The HungryGhost brings back a really familiar sound, the super-fuzzed style that often dominates a lot of Boobs of Doom’s work. That’s not a knock, they do it well. Teeth achingly well.

A final trio of The Defenestration Scene, The Unfair Funfare (this way comes…) and The Monsters We Birthed Will Avenge Us When We Are Gone end a great Boobs of Doom release. The highlight of those three coming from the kitchy and playfulness of The Unfair Funfare.

Boobs of Doom – Universal Monsters Full Track Listing:

1. The Karmadillo
2. The Interior League
3. The Skogkatten
4. The Feg
5. The Blaigeard Saint
6. La Sorgina
7. The Phegmling
8. The Goth Molloch
9. The Hungryghost
10. The Defenestration Scene
11. The Unfair Funfare (this way comes…)
12. The Monsters We Birthed Will Avenge Us When We Are Gone

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