Hutch joins the living dead and reviews the new album from Leeds zombies, Send More Paramedics

I’ll admit that the Zombiecore of Leeds based Send More Paramedics has largely passed me by. I’m not a huge fan of the gimmick band, which is what I understood they were. I’ll pass on the history but suffice that ‘The Final Feast’ is their first album release in 15 years so it’s reasonable to take it on face value without the deep dive into the band’s history. If I offend long term fans, so be it.  

Nine tracks and 27 minutes means no more than three minutes per song. In fact, there are a few songs here that are under two minutes long. With the band fixated on Zombie themes, there’s little room for flexibility and whilst the overall crossover thrash that SMP play is perfectly listenable, although there’s initially not a huge amount to really stir the thrash loins (© Carl Black 2020).  

There are plenty of driving riffs, screaming, and roaring vocals and a semi-Municipal Waste approach but two plays in and I was struggling to remember more than a minute of the songs that played out. ‘Hibakusha’, the final song is probably the most memorable due to the intro, but after than it’s more of the same frantic thrashing. It would be something that would be brilliant after a few pints in a small venue.  

The third play moved things up a gear, and opener ‘Mortify’ suddenly smashed my head on the table and I was away. From there on in, ‘The Final Feast’ exploded in a cacophony of thrash that demanded the attention. What it was about those first two plays I can’t say, but sometimes things need time to click into place. Strange because thrash is usually instantaneous. There were still moments that didn’t really do a lot but by the time I got to ‘Malfacteur’, the blistering intensity of ‘Splatterpunk’ and ‘Word is the Virus’, I was enjoying this much more than I thought I would.  

I still think this is music that would work so much better in the live setting. By all accounts, there is going to be some opportunity at Temple of Boom in October where I am sure this will be greeted like an Australian surfer in a school of great whites. Whatever the outcome, this is a crazed album that is enjoyable after a little perseverance. 

The Final Feast is out now via BandCamp

https://sendmoreparamedicsuk.bandcamp.com/album/the-final-feast-2