Album Review: Hardcore Superstar - Abrakadabra

I've lost touch with Hardcore Superstar over the years, but I still have a fondness for them, stemming from their "Dreaming In A Casket" album. Not only is the title track one of those songs that has always stuck with me, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget they had a song called "Wake Up Dead In A Garbage Can". If anything has ever better embodied the idea of sleaze rock, I don't think i've heard it. That record is ridiculous, but in the right way. As ugly as it is, you never get confused into thinking it isn't schtick. It was sort of a version of The Darkness that focused on Guns N Roses instead of Led Zeppelin.

So all these years later, I'm returning to the band's music to see where our paths have diverged. I'm sure I'm not as on-board with the sleaze as I was then, but is the band? That's what we're here to discuss.

The band's sound hasn't changed much. They still trade in heavy sleazy riffs, which pair perfectly with Jocke's vocals. He's always sounded like Axl Rose, if his voice didn't implode and die in his throat. It's a very shrill tone, and it wouldn't work in any other context, but when you want your music to sound like it's still strung out on the Sunset Strip in the late 80s, you can't do much better.

What is noticeable between this record and the one I keep going back to are two things; energy and humor. This record, whether it's circumstance or age, doesn't have the same burst of energy I remember from the band. Slowing down isn't a bad thing, in and of itself, but the manic energy is what keeps sleaze from sounding as sad as the lifestyle really is. At least if it never stops moving, you forget that it's all about self-destruction trading one moment of slight improvement for a lifetime of paying for it. The other thing is that this record doesn't have the same ridiculous sense of humor. There is no "Garbage Can" on this record, and the lack of obvious humor makes the rest of the songs sound more genuine and serious than they should be. Instead of sounding like an absurd send-up, it sounds as tired as if they had never grown up. Slow sleaze is like watching Ron Jeremy at the end of his career, when he had to squeeze his junk like it was a balloon leaking air.

Let's boil this down. The band sounds less energetic, less humorous, and the guitars all over the record are scratchy in a way that is unpleasant to listen to. Compared to the band's past, the only thing that remains is their ability to write catchy songs. None of them are anthems the way "Casket" was, and the mixing of the record doesn't help propel the hooks the way it could. This is a solid set of songs that is made harder to listen to because of the production of the record. The guitars sound bad, and the mix buries some of the chorus vocals. The entire thing sounds red-lined, and when the music doesn't have the power and life to make it obvious there was no way the songs could be anything less, it sounds like a forced effort to overcompensate.

We can chalk this album up as another one that had potential, and didn't get followed-through on. There are good songs here, and the band probably can make the pivot to being more serious, but this particular album has too many flaws to make it appointment listening. It's worth giving it a chance, but it doesn't have any magic up its sleeve.