Blood Brothers - Young Machetes

"We're the boys jailed in a horse's skull/We nailed our ears to a feral glittery drone" That opening lyric from "We Ride Skeletal Lightning" perfectly describes Seattle's Blood Brothers, who let out the most exciting and frightening scream of punk rock since the phrase was coined. Their new album Young Machetes, could change your life, but maybe not for the better. It's a relentless letter from a modern inferno, without remorse and without hope. The dual-assault vocals of Jordan Billie and Johnny Whitney go from beautiful Jeff Buckley-ish airs to absolute screaming insanity. And the writing is hellishly brilliant. Lyrics on the order of "the sky's so desolate like flesh on a skull-shaped balloon" and "waterfalls fall like intestines from flying gutted gulls" expose the pretentious inanity of death metal posers who have never even set a toe in the grave. The Blood Brothers are up to their neck in it. But it is not all shrieking entrails. "Lift the Veil, Kiss the Tank" is an anti-war song straight from a blown-out trench. The chorus goes: "War never ends / war never begins / hoist up the hag of destitution!/his mouth's an empty room where wild woes wander/ young machetes in lingerie charm us all into a frenzy/ his mouth's an empty hole full of quadriplegics." Ain't it the bloody truth? [www.thebloodbrothers.com]