Guitar Wolf

These leather clad madmen on a kamikaze rock’n’roll mission to disintegrate everything in their path, are up to their old tricks once again on Jet Generation, their sixth full-length release. The record opens with a speaker splintering feedback signal that warranted a warning sticker directed at innocent stereo owners, and it never looks back. Just as unapologetically dirty sounding as their earlier work, with less recording tricks than their comparatively lavish Planet Of The Wolves, Jet Generation is a bare knuckled, bloody nosed, punch-out party. The packaging is slick, the guitar work and singing are totally crazy and the menacing bass sound is reminiscent of the sound made when someone is beating you with a baseball bat through a thick pillow. The material is generally fast and wild, with some more melodic songs that’ll have you singing along even though you can’t really understand the words. These include the title track “Jet Generation,” “Fujiyama Attack,” “Gakulan Rider” and “Shimane Slim.” The slinky “Cosmic Space Girl” reminds us of the Wolf’s Link Wray roots, which he thankfully never stays too far from, and which he also puts to work on the great “Refrigerator Zero.” There is also a cover of “Summertime Blues,” which is in the grand tradition of the Bass Wolf belting out an old standard, just as he did on Planet Of The Wolves with “Satisfaction.” While so many other great bands dry up or go soft over time, it’s great to hear Guitar Wolf pounding it out like it’s still their first rehearsal. Go, Wolf, Go!