Album Review: A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN (2002)

 Over the next few months I will be doing reviews of SEND MORE PARAMEDICS three (soon to be four) main albums with a brief overview of their other EPs and musical career. Ending with a bite by bite account of their reunion shows celebrating 20 years since their reanimation happening in Leeds and London on the run up to Halloween this year. This is incredibly exciting for me, being zombie obsessed since childhood the discovery of this band as a young adult made my life complete. Even after they crawled back into their graves in 2007 (returning briefly in 2014), we the fans have never forgotten them. So before I really start to choke up with nostalgia... for those of you that do not know about this band let me introduce you to...

SEND MORE PARAMEDICS

B'Hellmouth - Vocals

Medico - Guitar

X. Undead - Bass

El Diablo - Drums

Formed in Leeds, England as a side project from members of the band AND NONE OF THEM KNEW THEY WERE ROBOTS these 80's zombie B movie fanatics named themselves SEND MORE PARAMEDICS, a line first croaked down the radio by a member of the undead in 1985's RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, adorned themselves in fake blood and zombie make up and vowed to create a unique genre dedicated to metal and zombies! Aptly dubbed Zombiecore their style blends ferocious Thrash Metal with lyrics devoted to zombie plagues and cannibalism influenced by all our favourite zombie movies.

These guys have been thrashing out monstrous tunes since 2001, before their very first live show they threw together some early songs onto a cassette tape so people would know the songs beforehand and played on Halloween of that year, this was intended to be a one off.

 The reaction to the band spurred them on to see how long they could pull this off for so that cassette became their first demo tape and got them signed to IN AT THE DEEP END RECORDS pretty soon after. The demo track listing is as follows:

1. 245 Trioxin.

2. The Pain Of Being Dead.

3. Redneck Holiday.

4. Kingdom Of The Undead.

5. Zombified.

These are early versions of many songs that will feature on future releases.

A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN (2002)

1. The Hordes (3:52)

2. The Pain Of Being Dead (1:19)

3. Cannibal (2:50)

4. Brains (0:11)

5. Resurrection Cemetery (2:08)

6. Kingdom Of The Undead (2:49)

7. Epulum (0:47)

8. Necromancer (2:25)

9. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1:47)

10. Zombie Sweetheart (1:58)

11. Aim For The Head (0:08)

12. Zombified (2:22)

13. Zombie Story  (24:14)

This is the bands first full length album released on IN AT THE DEEP END RECORDS in 2002. A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN pulls a lot of influence from some classic zombie movies featuring samples from George A. Romero's  DAWN OF THE DEAD and DAY OF THE DEAD as well as a few popping up from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. The songs are so well thought out that they don't need to rely on the samples though, they take those references and make them their own. Track 1 "The Hordes" takes the line "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth" and turns it into a shout worthy anthem. Track 9 "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" is a cover version of ROTLD's theme song. They have some really clever takes on scenes from DAY OF THE DEAD with track 3 "Cannibal" and once again with ROTLD for track 2 "The Pain Of Being Dead". The songs not themed on a specific movie cover all manner of apocalyptic scenarios, survival tactics and, for those lucky enough not to make it... reanimation!! The hidden track after the final musical track, if you are patient enough to wait for it, simply known as "Zombie Story" is a spoken word story, written and performed by vocalist B'Hellmouth, about a guy who has inadvertently stumbled upon the start of a zombie plague whilst visiting family and is trying to get out of town and get the word out before it is covered up. It is a 20 min tale that is really engaging and uncomfortably eerie especially when listening on headphones late at night!

The combination of their talent as musicians with effortlessly catchy riffs, unrelenting backline with the unique maniacal vocals from B'Hellmouth are just fantastic, even the shorter tracks are just marvellous snippets of mayhem. This always came across when it came to seeing them play live too as they never over used effects on the vocals, they were just as accomplished on stage as in the studio. A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN is raw, energetic and in your face from start to finish. An amazing first official offering from the band and a fantastic introduction piece. If you are yet to hear this album then do so as soon as you can! 

A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN  is available on CD from WWW.iatde.com. Please check out the IN AT THE DEEP END RECORDS website for other SMP merchandise.

Mash's Top Tracks

I can happily listen to this album all the way through without skipping a single track but if I had to choose my three favourites it would be: track 3 "Cannibal", track 6 "Kingdom Of The Undead" and track 10 "Zombie Sweetheart".

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Dan Phillips, Kevin McGonnell and Quentin Thomas for the permission to use their photos and additional information.