By Monk
Now and again a band comes along who, among the hundreds of submissions we receive every week, stand out purely and simply because of their name. Belushi Speed Ball are one such example, standing out because of their nominal link to one of the greatest comedic actors of his (or any other) time. It didn’t take much more to pique my interest – especially when I also discovered that, despite only being a new name here at ÜRHQ, the quintet have been slowly building a reputation over the past seven years or so with their fun-filled, tongue-in-cheek brand of crossover thrash, placing them very firmly in the same bracket as personal faves such as Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust (and, yes, I’ll admit it, even Gama Bomb), while also adding in GWAR-esque theatrics. In fact, the TH connection is further solidified by the fact that this, a “double EP” rather than a “proper” album, was mastered by the latter’s Joel Grind…
And it doesn’t take long to get immersed in the absurdity of the band’s approach to what they do: after, these are five dudes who played an entire “tour” from the back of a moving van, visiting socially distanced bar patios while dressed in apocalyptic Mad Max attire (an experience wonderfully documented on vocalist Senor Diablo’s suitably outrageous YouTube channel). And bear (sic) in mind that is also the band who once released a single housed inside a Furby! Song titles such as ‘We Aren’t Thrashers, We Are Hipster Posers’ and ‘Daniel Neel Is The Best Drummer Alive’ clearly show that these five guys have much more fun kicking ass than kissing it… which immediately, and subconsciously on their part, tunes them into the entire ÜR ethos… Add into the mix that they’ve “covered” one of their own songs, and you get a clearer idea of the amount of mayhem in store on these eight tracks…
Of course, there has to be method to the madness, and it also has to be backed up with a certain degree of musical nous. And there is no doubt that, while BSB may not possess much of the former, they certainly demonstrate tonnes of the latter, as, without an awareness of the mayhem which goes on elsewhere in their collective existence, the songs are extremely effective in their own rights, standing up to their own two feet and facing off with the best of any of the acts mentioned in my opening paragraph.
Despite their assertion, in one of the between-track interjections, that they “play sloppy”, each of the eight songs is concise and precise, with a clear objective in sight – and that is to get heads banging and necks snapping to breaking point. The riffs are fast and furious, the pace unrelenting, but there also plenty of melodies and choruses catchier than a dose of the beer bug in a dementia ward (sorry – NOT!).
‘Stella 1/Stella 2’ is a very worthy, extremely fun, addition to the crossover thrash discography: an “album” that should be taken at face value and does nothing more or nothing less than it sets out to do – and that is provide some light-hearted entertainment in these darkened times and make us forget the woes around us for its brief duration – before we hit the “repeat” button… or someone in charge succumbs to the band’s kidnap demands and brings back Dunkaroos! In the meantime, we’ll make more mayonnaise…
- ‘Stella 1/Stella 2’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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