Album Reviews: UNDEAD AT THE BBC (2020) & THE FINAL FEAST (2021)
Our fourth and final installment of our coverage on SEND MORE PARAMEDICS career starts off posthumously as the last piece ended as for a time all was quiet. After their 2014 shows they had returned to their graves to rot in peace but as is the way with zombies, they can't stay underground for too long... their hunger for brains will not let them rest. The first murmurings of their awakening hit the socials back in 2020, midway through this pandemic that the mortals were so worried about. I mean to me, it's just the perfect way to make a come back if you are a member of the undead. A teaser poster appeared merely stating that Halloween 2021 was a date to remember. This peaked the fans interest and soon things started to happen, beginning with...
UNDEAD AT THE BBC (2020)
1. Necromancer (2:33)
2. Blood Fever (2:26)
3. This Is The Place Of Wailing And The Gnashing Of Teeth (2:15)
4. Anthropophagi (2:32)
5. Zombie Crew (3:38)
6. Sever (3:14)
7. Burning The Body (3:35)
8. The Unclean (1:59)
These tracks were recorded live at Maida Vale studios whilst the band were still together and were originally played on Radio One's rock/punk show at the time The Lock Up hosted by Mike Davies. Tracks 1, 3, 5 and 7 were recorded in January 2005 for the show that aired on January 11th 2005. Tracks 2, 4, 6 and 8 were recorded in August 2006 for the show that aired on August 15th 2006. The session from 2006 predominantly featured tracks from their upcoming album THE AWAKENING which was due for release the following month of that year. Whilst these tracks were aired at the time of recording they only became available to fans in this format in December of 2020. The band had recruited a "media ghoul" to take on the task of revamping their website, socials etc. The main idea of this being more of an archive of their career rather than a revival, a place where fans could reach out by contributing and sharing old photos of shows and such like. Whilst digging around in the bowels of SMP's record archives, Horror Adept (Dan Phillips) discovered these Maida Vale recordings and convinced the band to release them as a whole collection. Newly remastered by Kevin McGonnell with the artwork by Horror Adept. UNDEAD AT THE BBC is a great listen, even if you do remember hearing these sessions way back then there is lots you have probably forgotten. The live setting of the prodigious Maida Vale studios capture SMP's raw energy perfectly with every element of the songs shining through. X. Undead's insane bass playing really comes to the forefront on these recordings with fantastic clarity. Although these are all familiar tracks it is great to hear them in this less produced state. I particularly like the fact that they squeeze their micro track "Brains" on the end of "Zombie Crew"!! UNDEAD AT THE BBC is available through Bandcamp and YouTube.
With the release of UNDEAD AT THE BBC and the aforementioned teaser post on the socials about Halloween 2021, rumours were rife and fans were getting frenzied as we all wanted to know exactly what was being planned. We did not have to wait too much longer as we were informed that SEND MORE PARAMEDICS were indeed coming back from the dead, again, to play some shows around Halloween to celebrate their reanimation that took place 20 years to the day way back on October 31st 2001! With my mind (or what was left of it) well and truly blown I excitedly waited for the tickets to go on sale and purchased mine as soon as they did. I am so glad I did as the dates sold out super quick. Originally planned as just two dates, one at Boom! in Leeds (30th Oct) and one show at the Boston Music Rooms in London (31st Oct), due to increased demand they added on another two dates at Boom! (28th & 29th Oct) and the London venue was upgraded to The Dome in Tufnell Park. This London date would be the final show falling on their actual 20 year anniversary. Had it not been for this accursed pandemic I would have loved to have gone to every show but because of the way things were I opted for the London show and was counting down the days. If that wasn't exciting enough as Spring turned into Summer it would seem that these undead ghouls were getting restless and had busted into the studio to record some brand new tracks. We were not expecting this but it certainly made things even more thrilling. For a bunch of dead guys they moved quickly and by September they had unleashed...
THE FINAL FEAST (2021)
1. Mortify (3:41)
2. Totenkopf (2:40)
3. Malfacteur (3:26)
4. She Lives (2:01)
5. Human Capital (2:29)
6. Splatterpunk (1:50)
7. Unfree (3:52)
8. Word Is The Virus (3:28)
9. Hibakusha (3:54)
Recorded, produced, mixed and mastered in July/August 2021 by James Atkinson at The Stationhouse Studio in Leeds UK. THE FINAL FEAST is their first new material for 15 years and was released on September 17th 2021, their last studio album THE AWAKENING was released on September 18th 2006. Even though this record was greatly anticipated there is always a risk when bands reform and make a new record that things will never be the same as they used to be... well, there was no need to worry with this one!! The sound and feel of THE FINAL FEAST is spot on, it flows smoothly on from THE AWAKENING it's almost like they had never been away! From the opening track "Mortify" you are met with a deliberate chugging intro that throws you into a fast thrashing verse and pre chorus with that steady pronounced chorus pattern that has come to be synonymous with the band since A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN yet somehow never becomes tiresome where these guys are concerned. "Totenkopf" (Track 2) was chosen as the single for this release and was the first track we all heard. Based on the excruciating zombie B movie OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES (aka: OASIS OF THE LIVING DEAD) (1982) by Spanish exploitation director Jesus Franco loosely involving treasure and Nazi zombies in the desert (if you haven't seen this then do seek it out!). Again starting with a killer riff and sporting a massive sing a long outro of "Nazi zombies fuck you" which aswell as being a tribute to the shocking OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES it is also a nod to DEAD KENNEDYS 1983 classic "Nazi Punks Fuck Off". It was at this point in the album I just knew I was going to absolutely love the rest of it! The rest of the tracks are all very strong from all angles of a zombie apocalypse. "Malfacteur" is your voodoo type of zombie told from the zombies point of view and again is ridiculously catchy plus B'Hellmouth startles us by coughing up some French! "She Lives" (track 4) and "Splatterpunk" (track 6) are fast paced thrashy numbers, "Unfree" (track 7) is of slower fare and the insanely awesome "Human Capital" (track 5) and "Hibakusha" (track 9) have some absolute monster break downs. In terms of zombie content they go back to the good ol' days of using movie samples along side their songs using extracts fom ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH (1973) in "She Lives" (track 4). "Word Is The Virus" (track 8) takes a sample from PONTYPOOL (2008) and explores the premise of the movie where the virus is spread by word of mouth. In conclusion THE FINAL FEAST is a fantastic effort, really well recorded and not over produced at all which proves SEND MORE PARAMEDICS have still got it. As we weren't expecting this new record it makes this all the more of a joy to listen to and leaves us with something fresh and new to sink our teeth into before they crawl back into their graves. THE FINAL FEAST is currently only available digitally via their Bandcamp page. Hopefully later on we will hear of some kind of physical release as I personally prefer the feeling of holding a record, CD or even cassette in my hands and excitedly thumbing through the inlay booklet to study the lyrics and admire the artwork. Incidentally, the cover artwork for THE FINAL FEAST was designed and painted by guitarist Medico. Obviously during their time away they have been expanding their zombie skills! If you haven't had a chance to check out this new offering then I suggest you do so as quickly as possible. It is another beast of an album that fits in so well with their past recordings.
With THE FINAL FEAST occupying our eardrums, before we knew it was time for their live shows. By the looks of things on their socials the 3 shows at Boom! Leeds totally smashed it with ghouls and mortals alike absolutely losing their shit in the pit the way it always used to be back in the day at an SMP show! The atmosphere at The Dome in London was electric. Support was from Kent comedy metallers PROLAPSE AD and London based sludge/stoner/metal POSSESSOR who both performed great sets and kept the crowd entertained as we eagerly awaited SEND MORE PARAMEDICS arrival. The crowd were set with at least 75% zombied up with the added bonus of one Michael Myers and a spooky halloween banana (see BOTTOM series 3 episode 2 "Terror"). Shuffling onto the stage to "A Crushing Tide" (track 7) on disc 2 of THE AWAKENING (2006) El Diablo, Medico and X. Undead took up their respective positions but B'Hellmouth was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't long before a commotion broke out and the screaming lament of "Braiiiinnnnnnsss!!" could be heard as B'Hellmouth staggered and spluttered his way through the crowd toward the stage. Due to the high number of undead in the crowd, brains pit side were hard to sniff out. Unperturbed by this he went straight for his brain stash secreted on the drum riser in the form of a severed head (prop, of course, before anyone gets offended) and feasted on the gooey brain inside before smashing straight into crowd pleasing opener "The Hordes". Their set was a well thought out collection of tracks from all their studio albums. They'd managed to create a main set of classic live tracks from "The Hordes", "Cannibal", "Brains" and "Aim For The Head" from A FEAST FOR THE FALLEN (2002). "Driven To Destruction", "Bokor", "Burning The Body" and "No Fucking Joke" from THE HALLOWED AND THE HEATHEN (2004). "Blood Fever", "Anthropophagi", "Everything Is Not Under Control" and "The Unclean" from THE AWAKENING (2006). The added bonus was the fact that they played "Totenkopf" and "Human Capital" from the newly released THE FINAL FEAST (2021) as well as "Nothing Tastes Like This" and "Zombie Versus Shark" from the TALES TOLD BY DEAD MEN (2005) split EP. Throwing in the awesome "Send More Paramedics" for good measure. The second part of their set marked their 20th anniversary perfectly as they played their very first set list from their first gig on Oct 31st 2001. Which ran a little bit like this; "245 Trioxin", "The Pain Of Being Dead", "Redneck Holiday", "Kingdom Of The Undead" and "Zombified". The final part of the show needs little introduction as it was often the song they chose to end their shows with. It is, of course, "Zombie Crew" from THE HALLOWED AND THE HEATHEN (2004). The crowd were loving every minute of the show but things really kicked off for "Zombie Crew"!! The band themselves were on top form, even though they have spent the last 20 years as zombies the decomposition has not totally destroyed them yet. El Diablo was thumping the drums like a zombie possessed, Medico and X. Undead were whirling around the stage with B'Hellmouth offering up his mic to the hordes whilst he leaped into the crowd! It was a fantastic night and one that I will not forget in a hurry. There was a small feeling of sadness as they left the stage but in all honesty it felt more like a huge sense of pride, belonging and honour that we all shared this moment together.
This is not the first time we have said goodbye to the great talent of SEND MORE PARAMEDICS but I feel like this was the last time we will see them live again, so I guess all that remains to be said is thank you. Thank you SEND MORE PARAMEDICS for being who you are, for being around when you were and for making us "freaks" feel like we belong. You began from a 5 track demo and have given us 4 studio albums, 2 split EP's and 3 compilations in pretty much every format. Not to mention 1 live album in the form of "LIVE AT THE FEEDING GROUNDS" (2002),(https://sendmoreparamedicsuk.com/music-videos/ ) and 3 awesome music videos so we have much to remember you by. To quote B'Hellmouth directly "It was 20 years ago today, that George Romero taught this band to play, we've never really been in style, but I hope we raised a fuckin' smile!". You sure did, rock in peace ghouls!
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