My chief concern heading into Funeral Chic’s Roman Candle (Prosthetic Records) is that the name Funeral Chic is very unappealing. It’s objectively a bad name for a band. It feels like a moniker Johnny Depp would give to one of his musical projects. Brings back memories of another Depp-associated collective, Hollywood Vampires. Yeah, I’d like a ticket to go see Jack Sparrow, Joe Perry and golf enthusiast Alice Cooper walk around onstage, Mr. Box Office.

Now, I’m not saying that Funeral Chic is on the level with Gilbert Grape’s musical output. Not at all. There’s quite much to like on Roman Candle. ‘Spit and Crawl’ is the for sure standout of the bunch and will qualify as possibly the best punk song of the year. But make sure to keep your guard up and always defend yourself as despite its punk bite it will not hesitate to toss out some tasty lead guitar bits into the ring. The title track follows right after, and those sweet leads are still present despite the band shifting into a more mid-tempo crunch. Also, hardcore points for incorporating those neat gang vocals.

‘Satisfaction’ gets us back to the punk promised land, but halfway through we learn why most of the best Motorhead tracks rarely go into the five minute plus running time. The latter half feels a bit padded out and even the inclusion of some saxophone and synthesizers does little to improve the situation. ‘Last Line Blues’ starts with crunching menace until the opening line of “I got locked out of Heaven, got burned out on Hell” jumps straight from your stepdad’s Volbeat albums and into your headphones. And you know vocalist Dustin Carpenter means business with his lyrics as he peppers in as many “goddamns” and “fucks” as he can throughout the LP.

There is a universe in which Roman Candle is a brilliant album. It’s the one in which Funeral Chic ditches the whole “American Rock and Roll” thing in favor of a more scathing and loose punk aesthetic.

Less Donnie Brasco and more Jello Biafra, please.

 

Buy the album here: https://lnk.to/FuneralChic

 

6 / 10

HANS LOPEZ