LEFT OF THE DIAL RECOMMENDS
THEE OH SEES – MUTILATOR DEFEATED AT LAST

Rick McNulty hosts Left of the Dial every Friday night, 7-11 pm. Thee Oh Sees will be performing at Hotel Vegas on 9/22 & 9/23.

Guitars! Riffs! Chaos! Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s Thee Oh Sees!

The new album, Mutilator Defeated at Last (Castle Face Records), is a skull-crusher, which is to say you’ll feel pummeled by a wall of fuzz guitars and jet engine blasts of chaos. Somehow these riffs and shards gel into bite-sized songs that are – wait for it – radio friendly (or at least for this radio station).

I haven’t heard guitars this wicked and psychotic in a long time. It’s no wonder they need two drummers to keep up with the breakneck speed of unruly guitarist John Dwyer, the de facto captain of the runaway train of Thee Oh Sees. Dwyer chews through band members – eleven in less than twenty years – as quickly as he plows through songs, many of his best clocking in at an average of two and a half minutes.

Not all of Mutilator’s thirty three minutes are spazzed out rock. There are a couple slow jams, heavy on the psychedelia and reverb. Not exactly makeout music (or maybe it is depending on your diet), but adding enough shade and color to allow for a much needed respite. And you’ll need some rest to temper this beastly little album.

My favorites are “Turned Out Light”…

…and the oddly titled “Lupine Ossuary.”

Thee Oh Sees will be performing at Hotel Vegas, 1500 E. 6th St., on September 22 & 23. They are an amazing live band. You have been warned.

Thee Oh Sees at Hotel Vegas 9/22 and 9/23.

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