Album review: NITROGODS – Roadkill BBQ

NITROGODS - Roadkill BBQ

SPV/Steamhammer [Release date 26.05.17]

If Rush play thinking man’s music, then Hannover/Stuttgart’s very own Nitrogods require only that you have one functioning brain cell which has been pickled for weeks and then slapped stupid with a baseball bat.

Looking a lot like those lovable hairy Geordie lads who gave up their motorbikes for TV cooking show stardom and sounding like Motörhead covering basically anything, the suitably-named Nitrogods romp through gloriously simple songs like “Rancid Rock”, “Roadkill BBQ”, “My Love Is A Wirebrush” and “Did Jesus Turn Water Into Beer”. This third album, Roadkill BBQ – the title track sounding exactly like what a Lemmy/Quo collaboration would have produced circa 1974 – is a ballad-free, riff frenzy which will make your speakers smell of beer belch.

As subtle as a pee stain on your jeans, Nitrogods must have quite a fan base in the German industrial heartland given that this album is released in three formats which variously include patches, stickers, embossed metal containers, a bonus 4-track CD of Motorhead covers and even a hip flask (lasered – naturally – with the band’s skull logo)…..more marketing budget than they’ve probably ever spent on collective personal hygiene, obviously targeting old-schoolers rather than downloaders.  Good on ‘em.

This is a quick-fire fix of growly Kraut rock, Lemmy’s vocals after elocution lessons, the backing track to a video montage of pub toilets from hell. The only respite from the brain-bludgeoning is the average three minute track length – I’ve boiled eggs for longer.

To be fair, there is some decent riffage here, even if it gets a bit samey – a tip of the hat to Stand Up And Shout on opener “Rancid Rock” whilst “The Price Of Liberty” has a thunderous and grimey riff overlaid momentarily with some heavy slide.

This is for fans of Gotthard and any number of protagonists of that ilk of “not-so-new-wave-of-Euro-industrial-metal-rawk”. Looking like roadies who kidnapped the headline band, locked them in the dressing room and took to the stage themselves, Nitrogods is single-entendre, teutonic gruff-rock – nothing new, no surprises but they’ll appeal to liquored up bikers who want to shed a few ounces of dandruff. Probably worth getting for the hip flask alone and the Motorhead covers. ***

 Review by Mark “Mad Dog” Shaw


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