Leather Slave - Leather Slave S/T (2014)

 "…Then I'll cut off all of your fingers, and then I'll make you try on pairs of gloves… I'm going to pull a knife stunt. And then. I'll cut off both of your ears, so you can't hear what I'm going to do next. And the blood will just run out of your head, like two faucets… I'm going to pull a knife stunt." –  

Like any good serial killer or nefarious creature, nobody knows who Leather Slave is, they could be your weird neighbour, or your postman, or the rambling junkie on your street calling every passerby a "handjob and a half!", it's a veil of anonymity that may seem less crucial when compared to the likes of John Wayne Gacy but it is an essential component to the harrowing and seedy vibe of Leather Slave's sound.

A sound that is much less punk and much more looping. But it is still punk, sort of. It sounds like horror-punk because it is scary not because it's content is about b-grade horror movies and Alice Cooper worship. Leather Slave doesn't have a cover of "Monster Mash" and they never fucking will. I promise. This preamble is not a jab at The Misfits, (I like The Misfits more than I could ever love my own children), but it might shed some light on how something actually scary might sound. Unsettling would be the better word to describe it. Seedy and depraved even. Or for you fans of  multiple choice, all of the above.

It's impressive because I get the same vile feeling as I do with bands like Meth Drinker, The Body, Impetuous Ritual, or even Canada's beautifully repulsive Revenge would give me although Leather Face are far less abrasive (or extreme) at face value. Instead, the unsettling vibe is manifested through a series of looping sickly riffs and an equally poisoned to the bone style of drumming with singing that isn't singing so much as it is spoken, sounding more like threats and rambling through a telephone more than anything else.

I stumbled on this band via the incredibly good and highly recommended ONGAKUBAKA blog and I scored myself a download link to the album from somewhere else on the deep wide web, and you can too. Otherwise I'd highly suggest buying this fucker, so you can be that cool kid with an obscure record collection nobody will every really see but you wish they would.



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