Bovine Nightmares – The $0.98 EP

Bovine Nightmares are an oddball trio adorned in masks who hail from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The city is referenced both in film, with Bethlehem Steel being featured in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and song in Billy Joel' 'Allentown'. Hardly ringing endorsements, so its good therefore to have a band like Bovine Nightmares to help redress the balance.

My exposure to them came through Wax Donut's stellar compilations to which they've contributed such as World Without End; An Underground Tribute to Samhain ('I am Misery'), A Future of Bad Men; a Melvins Tribute ('The Bit'), New Wave Donut (covering The Eurythmics 'Here Comes the Rain Again'), Wax Donut Presents Goat; A Jesus Lizard Tribute ('Monkey Trick'), and Day Old Donuts (covering The Ronettes 'Be My Baby'). Along the way there's also been the three Nightmares in the Valley EPs from 2020 and a pretty nifty collaboration with Titanosaur on 'I Turned Into a Martian' for the Perpetual Doom Presents: Die, Die My Doomer (A Misfits Covers Charity Compilation. Some of the tracks on this, the band's fourth EP had previously been released as singles but its nice to have them tidied up and bound together. As I don't review singles on Clean Sheets the release gave me an opportunity to finally review one of the band's records, so here we are...

Parts of 'Sacrifice for the Gods' sounds like it could be on one of Burzum's Dungeon Synth albums, meanwhile the track's title is the kind of thing Quorthon may have come up with for Bathory's later Viking Metal albums. There is a sense of the theatrical and grandiose that normally would have me running for the hills, but in the Bovines case their charm and sense of the absurd make it both irresistible and too good to ignore. A powerful opening statement. 'Iron Mask' is akin to Mike Patton fronting Metallica during their S & M cycle (cue the classical orchestration), with a little Crossover energy courtesy of S.O.D's classic Speak English or Die. Breathtaking stuff for sure. Our Quixotic Gentleman' is a nod to Miguel de Cervantes' The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, for which a cursory knowledge of the plot may prove advantageous but hardly essential. There's a Death Metal feel with some of the riffs recalling the heavy grooves of Obituary, underpinned by a little funk (particularly in the Vocal and Bass departments) that recalls the mighty Fishbone, particularly the heavier sounding Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe. Another winner.

'Lific' is a tender piece with Gothic Metal overtones much in the spirit of Type O Negative and their much missed frontman Pete Steele, as well as a little Marilyn Manson campiness such as on the goofy 'Sweet Dreams'. Throw in Faith No More's early Funk-Metal (gang choruses in tow) and you have all the ingredients of an eccentric yet rewarding listen. As intonated earlier Bovine Nightmares have form when it comes to covers, such is the case here with their take on Tom Waits'Underground' from the abstract, experimental sounding Swordfishtrombones. If you had heard the song blind you'd swear it was the original, but when its done as good as this who gives a shit? A stellar conclusion to the record.

In a time of self-righteous political postering its refreshing to have a band like Bovine Nightmares who don't take themselves too seriously. This is an undeniably fun listen and I'm looking forward to hearing what the band comes up with next, I'll certainly be up for reviewing it.