Guitar Wolf - LoveRock (Garage RocknRoll Japan 2004)

Ripped to HQ VBR Tracklist: 1. Loverock 2. Demon Card 3. Jet13 4. Violent Letter 5. Shinkansen High Tension 6. Universe Youth 7. Midnite Blood Pump 8. Moonlight Boy 9. Ultra Might Nite 10. Black Hawk 11. Katsumiya Tobacco City 12. Fire Joe 13. Blood Splashed Sky 14. Time Machine of Tears 15. Only That Girl 16. SF Tokyo 17. Black Rock'n'roll If there’s an album cover that epitomises its contents more than the new Guitar Wolf disc, I have not seen it. With guitar slung, black leather clad and devil horns salute in tow, there is no mistaking what this is all about. Dirty, filthy, fucked up garage band ‘LOCK and LOLL’(sic). Err..message to Nigel of Spinal Tap, I’ve found another band that turns it all the way to eleven!! This is my first experience with the Japanese three-piece known as Guitar Wolf. They’ve been at it since 1987 churning out seven local side full lengths that I’ve never heard or more significantly, never had access to. If it wasn’t for a very influential Japanese based mate of mine, this one would have passed me by also. I’m glad for the recommendation. This disc sounds like nails down a chalk board; a severely demented racket that’ll have you reeling and begging for mercy. This is about as unbridled as it gets folks. If you’re sick of the safe, homogenised, no room for error style of hard rock, Guitar Wolf are its complete antithesis. ‘Loverock’ is all about putting the danger back in rock n roll (which apparently is what they’ve done for the past 18 years). You want a rock n roll band with a pulse? Fucking hell, Guitar Wolf’s sits at 180 bpm! When I think of sweaty, alcohol fuelled 70’s style guitar rock; I think ‘The Ramones, The MC5, The Hellacopters, John Spencer Blues Explosion, The fucking Stooges!!’ I’m sure there’s a clutch of other underground garage bands that Guitar Wolf draw upon, but the point is these guys bathe in the same filthy, cockroach infested sess pool. Like the aforementioned masters and armed with a phenomenally primal sound ‘Loverock’ is guaranteed to cause you and everyone else within a three block vicinity some damage. I knew this disc would rock, but I didn’t really expect such a pummelling of the senses. Sonically, ‘Loverock’ is deliberately lo-fi, raw, rough and visceral. There is simply nothing clean about this disc at all. Subversiveness is its aim. Think The Stooges ‘Raw Power’ meets ‘The MC5’ as a template and you’ve got an idea on just where this is coming from. It actually sounds so fucking crap its good. ‘Loverock’ squeals and shrieks with a raging barrage of over-distorted amplification that will have even the most hardened trash-rock fan bleeding from the ears. Still, the vitality and urgency that this album displays is hard to ignore, even if it sounds like the same track repeated seventeen times. Of course, ‘Guitar Wolf’s most interesting aspect, for me at least, is that they are Japanese. Musically, they may have the same influences as their Western peers, but thematically and lyrically there’s always a different take. With Guitar Wolf, it is frontman Seiji’s performance that stands out. His ‘ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR’ banter is more a homage than a rip-off and his wild, exuberant delivery takes this album to another level. Of course, everything here follows a Japanese verse, English chorus format. It is notable that the lyric booklet contains all songs in English translation, however as some have already pointed out, considering the manic delivery of Seiji, they would make no sense either way. Even the local Japanese fans would have trouble deciphering what goes down on this disc. All you really need to know is that Guitar Wolf write about is the bare essentials of life – leather, rock n roll, motorbikes and girls. Yeah, BABY!! Guitar Wolf makes no apologies for their garage rock single mindedness. They couldn’t give a flying fruitcake about anything released post-1983; it just doesn’t count. ‘Loverock’ is all about STYLE over substance – it matters not that the track listing is rendered useless by its lack of diversity, the point is its celebration of an attitude and lifestyle that is decades old. Dumb/stupid, fast/furious unrestrained Rock n Roll - That’s the charm of ‘Loverock’. *Note, just weeks ago on March 30th, Billy the ‘Bass Wolf’ (Hideaki Sekiguchi)died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 38 years old. Guitar Wolf’s status is now in limbo. The band starred in a gruesome, romantic japanese zombie movie called Wild Zero - it was upped here on piratebay a wee while ago I believe. You might want to check it out if you dig this music.

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blackgrass (2005-07-11)

Wild Zero, saw it at the movies. Fucking awesome zombie flick. Highly recommended.

Rebel232 (2009-09-08)

Test 78:
Awesome review I totally agree.
If youre new to guitar wolf, definitely get Wild Zero, then buy their CDs (if you can very hard or impossible in north america).
The Guitar Wolf / Wild Zero combo gives the Ramones / Rock N Roll High School a run for the money.
JF

StormWolf611 (2010-09-22)

Im from America and just randomly downloaded this from music cuz i like hardcore heavy metal but i wasn't quite expecting this. i can't say anything bad about it but i was expecting something a little less staticy and digital. don't get me wrong i love japanese music i just don't like the garage style rock it gives me a bit of a headache but i think if they had better equipment they could be better

pirate04kitty (2011-03-19)

Could anyone seed please or list some other trackers?