Customer Reviews

Bring It on (Dig)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I liked Hell Yeah!, but this album is amazing. Horrorpops aren't psycho, they're not punk, they're not anything except good old rock, and they explore it in all aspects on this album. It seems like they have developed and a band a lot since the last album, and the lyrical and musical content is much better. They've definatley got their own style, and all people want to do is label them, but I think they'll break any labels with Bring It On.

This album is great, I don't know why so many are complaining when this album is clearly better than Hell Yeah! ever was.

And their first album was great!

They did stray farther away from the rockabilly since the last album, but it's still really enjoyable, bouncy, fun music that embraces the right amounts of rock, punk, rockabilly, and a little bit of pop (Heck, if you told me "Hit and Run" was a cut from No Doubts "Tragic Kingdom" I wouldn't think twice). Patricia Day sounds even better on this album, sounding somewhat like a drunk, foreign Gwen Stefani. I love her voice, the way she chews and spits some of those words... She has to be one of the best female vocalists I've ever heard.

What makes Bring It On! it better than Hell Yeah! is that the songwriting is much better, and they all but dropped the goth imagery. The only horror themed song they have on here is "Walk Like A Zombie." The rest is much more varied, plenty of songs about love, a song about rebelling against musical conformity ("Freaks In Uniform" which lets you know from the start that this album isn't *going* to be a repeat of their debut), a song about overdrinking (the hilarious "Crawl Straight Home" featuring the line "coated tongue and hairy teeth/I guess I'm not so lady like"), and the gorgeous murder ballad "S.O.B." (great vocals on that song, she really puts some bite into those lines) just to give you an idea.

But what really *REALLY* sells this record for me is the guitar work. They apparently switched out a guitarist and replaced him with some dude from Tiger Army (the bass player, I heard) meaning you have two former bass players from other psychobilly bands playing guitar. It sounds weird, but I couldn't be happier with the results. The guitars on the album really shine thanks to some gorgeous arrangements and a smart sense of subtlety. I mean, they aren't doing anything technically impressive with them (in other words, no Eddie Van Halen soloing or anything like that), but the stuff they do with thier instruments is pretty inventive. Sometimes they're playing these spidery little lines over the chords, or they'll do some echoey, reverbed, surf-style chord swooping. There's a song ("You Vs. Me" I think) where they drop the chord progression in favor of just slashing a quick powerchord every fourth beat so you just hear a quick "chick" in the background for a verse. Man, there's so much stuff that I've noticed upon repeated listens, I can't begin to remember it all, but believe me when I say this whole album has lots of interesting sonic layers if you bother to look for them.

Whats impressive about that is they could have just been banging out power chords the whole time and still made a fun album, but the guitarwork clearly shows they put a lot of time and thought into this album. It shows a surprising amount of intelligence, and while some of this type of thing was on Hell Yeah! its much more apparent on Bring It On! which tells me the Horrorpops were really shooting for a high level of quality, and I'd say they achieved it by giving us a intelligent mutli-layered musical experience.

You could pop this album in an enjoy it right away for its catchy and fun songs, but you can also surround yourself with a decent stereo and look for all the little guitar parts you didn't notice the first time around popping out of your speakers.

In short, the HorrorPops are easily the best band on Hellcat since the Dropkick Murphys (and I dare say I enjoy the HorrorPops even better than DKM), and you'd be missing out if you didn't pick up Bring It On! right away.

Yeah whatever you can listen to these people who think they have some kind of point or you can just pick up this cd and listen to an excellent cd by a band with an amazing act live. If they come around you I really encourage you to go because they put on a great show. As I said this is an great cd and you should get it if you want an excellent and upbeat cd that will leave you in a good mood everytime you listen to it.

I'm not particularly a huge fan of the Horrorpops. That being said I own this album, I have heard this album and I have heard everyone's gripes about this album. I wouldn't call this 100% Psychobilly at all (although the slap-bass is apparent in some of the songs and not so apparent in others) and I agree with one of the reviews below that this band was not trying to sound 100% Psycho. With that I believe the Horrorpops have taken a new direction with this genre much like Tiger Army has with their third album and I comend them on this. Who wants to hear the same old Psychobilly that you can hear and buy for a dime a dozen these days...? It all sounds the same! This new Psycho/Rock/Punk hybrid music is a sigh of relief if you ask me... don't you agree?

There's a lot of nit-picking in these reviews about "they're not psychobilly" , "the first album was better", blah, blah, blah. The problem is that nobody else is putting out anything quite like this. You can't try to compare them to Kim's band or to Tiger Army. And please don't call them emo-billy as someone did elsewhere.

My tastes run from old time rockabilly all the way through the hard core punk of bands like the Nerve Agents, Sick of it All, etc. The simple point is that this is energetic and unique music that borrows from lots of styles. Some songs are astonishing but they are all likely to make you tap your feet and bob your head. There really seems to be something in their sound that would appeal to anyone that likes the twangy surf-guitar sound in rockabilly but wants a more up-tempo delivery. The occasional ghoulish lyric is simply a nice touch here as well.

If you already know you like them and can't wait for their next release go get Mad Marge and the Stonecutters.

This is a great sophmore effort for Horrorpops. The knock on this band is that they aren't psychobilly enough or that they aren't heavy enough. Enough for what? I remember Metallica getting the same rap once they started playing something with a melody line. "They sold out" or "they're not metal anymore" or some other garbage like that. What a load of crap! The first song on Bring It on is called Freaks In Uniforms. It's about people (and bands) tragically sticking to molds...not stepping out from them and showing individuality. The people that knock this band usually knock it for the wrong reasons - not because they're a bad band, because they don't conform to the preconceived notion of what "this type" of band should be. Horrorpops aren't psychobilly, though they do have psychobilly influences that are obvious. They are plenty heavy for what they do. Horrorpops are a POP spin on psychobilly, rockabilly, ska, and good old fashioned punk. If you don't like your music catchy and melodic, stay away from this band. If you like songs that stay in your head and that are fun to sing along to...this is it. If you like to see live bands that all look and act the same as you mosh around or skank, they aren't for you. If you like an element of glitz and flash, not unlike KISS was in the 1970's, you're going to LOVE Horrorpops.

This album is not as good as the first, most of the songs are more mellow and slower, but that does'nt make them bad. what makes them bad is they are just plain boring, with boring melodies.
"It's Been So Long" is a really good song, and I like "Freaks in Uniforms" and "Hit n' Run" aswell. It's too bad as the album progresses it gets more and more boring.
If you liked Horrorpops first album, there's a strong possibility you'll dig at least a couple of these songs, but don't buy it without hearing some, if not all, of it first

For the longest time, I have been meaning to check out the HorrorPops's music since I read an interview with them in a magazine a few years ago. I recently acquired a copy of the band's second album BRING IT ON! through my library. The band's brand of psychobilly, punk, ska, new wave, and rockabilly isn't what I normally listen to but I definitely took an immediate liking to what I heard. BRING IT ON isn't a great album but I liked it a lot. A few of the songs weren't all that great but songs like "Walk Like a Zombie" and "You vs. Me" makes up for the blandness of "Freaks in Uniforms" and "It's Been so Long". I am especially fond of "Walk Like a Zombie" which is addictively infectious. The pop hooks has a '60s retro pop quality that I totally dug. The lyrics are a real hoot too. I like the horror aspect of their lyrics. Bassist and lead singer Patricia Day reminds me a great deal of Siouxsie Sioux. While BRING IT ON may not be a great album but I think it was worth checking out for this new fan. For me it was a great introduction to the HorrorPops. I am definitely going to have to check out their first and latest cds.

What's wrong with these reviewers? This albums actually better than Hell Yeah! It's a little less poppy, so the songs aren't as immediately accessible, but they sure get better and better with each listen.

I think it's a very good album. A few of the songs are ho-hum, but the majority are a fantastic lot of fun. Perhaps that's because I heard of this album before Hell Yeah. I'll have to go back and try Hell Yeah again. I like them both.