Album Review: Mad Spanner – Life Absurd (Self Released)

Frantic, bizarre and utterly wild. Introducing Mad Spanner! Always seeking to put the absurd onstage, dedicated to delivering an intense tornado of a show with energy and passion unparalleled!

The band was founded by frustrated comedian Michael Randall who escaped the peace and complacency of his welsh seaside hometown to the quintessentially English, very ‘Mr Kipling’ town of Shrewsbury, much closer to the West Midlands punk and metal scene.

After a couple of months writing, recording and uploading the demo album ‘The Wrong Shade of Orange’ on bandcamp, he is later joined by Dan Ashley on shred-guitar and resident rhythm bulldozer Ben Codd on the drums to complete the band. Together, they target the stage to unleash a performance in mania, blurring the lines between delirious laughter and existential fury delivered with proficient musicianship and a punk attitude.

Megadeth, Strapping Young Lad, Footprints In The Custard, Oaf, Napalm Death, Carpathian Forest, Sikth, Discharge and Phillip Glass are all to blame for influencing Mad Spanners sound, coupled with an experimental approach to song writing with a wide range of inspiration.

From chicken phobias (‘Alektorophobic Nosebleed’), humankinds relationship with technology (‘Get Off Your Bastard Phone, You Anti-Social Dickhead’/ ‘Forced To Use A Shitty Drum Machine’), unfortunate accidents (‘I Didn’t Kick Your Dog’, ‘I Was Caught Shitting In A Plastic Bag’), Insecticidal Conscience (Massacre Of The Flies) and existentialist angst (Wrongshade, Escape Into Reality) – the band dizzily celebrates the weird and absurd.

The madness of their debut album, Life Absurd will be released on March 29th 2019.

An outspoken listen, Life Absurd has a lot to say and you’re going to want to listen. The 14 tracks of the album, a mix of furious hardcore noise, speeding metal and punky middle fingers up the air, are an eye-watering and ear-bleeding affair.

It’s not a mess, even though the presumption might be that it is. In fact, Mad Spanner, for all their madness, have crafted a really well structured and listenable record. One that has a myriad of topics to cover, all with their tongue firmly planted in their cheek.

It’s fun but don’t confuse that with silly. It’s not silly, instead the intensity of their focused rage is likely to come as more of surprise then anything else.

However, when you hear a piano led ballad about a pervert (Avocado Piano) you can’t help but smile. In conjunction with the heavier Avocado Commando, it certainly shows off the more amusing side of Mad Spanner.

“I have this compulsion to show you my balls. I have this compulsion to show you my genitalia”

After a short desperate cry for help by a man being haunted by a seagull in his sleep, Mad Spanner’s Life Absurd reaches its conclusion in a bloody and violent way. Just the way we like it.

Mad Spanner – Life Absurd Full Track Listing:

1. Wrongshade
2. Forced To Use A Shitty Drum Machine
3. Alektorophobic Nosebleed
4. Massacre Of The Flies (ft Kieran Scott – ‘Ashen Crown’)
5. I Was Caught Shitting In A Plastic Bag
6. Get Off Your Bastard Phone (You Anti-Social Dickhead)
7. Anal Sex
8. Drinking The Drunk Away
9. Duck-Faced Selfie
10. Avocado Piano
11. Avocado Commando
12. Seagulls Haunt Me In My Sleep
13. Thinking Nothing. Feeling Nothing.
14. Escape Into Reality

Be part of the madness by going to their Bandcamp, website and Facebook Page.