What do you get when you cross The Ramones, The Crucified, Batman, Neverhood-era Terry Taylor, CS Lewis' space trilogy, They Might Be Giants, bad science fiction movies, Ninety Pound Wuss, and Paradise Lost? A rough version of Blaster the Rocketman's new album!
I'm really not quite sure how to describe The Monster Who Ate Jesus. It's more bizarre and unnerving than any CD I've ever heard, but the band (incredibly) still manages to keep their pop sensibilities intact. For example, amid all the Ramones-style punk that Blaster churns out, there's still time for a Talking Heads-meets-They Might Be Giants swing number, "Frankenstein's Monster Wants a Wife":
She's much too fresh
Where did you get her?
No, I don't confess
For I must wed her
To my abomination
Son of man...
How does she look?
Do the scars show?
She's all sewn up
With no place to go
As you can tell, chief lyricist Otto Bot's compositions aren't exactly conventional, which makes the songs all that more enjoyable to listen to. What's more, they fit into a loose concept of sorts, all centered around (the best I can tell) modern science's attempts to remove God from people's minds (thus the title The Monster Who Ate Jesus). Bot makes some very valid points all the way, drawing heavily from CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength and Out of the Silent Planet. Highlights include the aforementioned "Frankenstein...," as well as "Lovebot's Revenge" and "Stampede!"
The Monster Who Ate Jesus may well end up becoming a cult classic, and is worth the time of any fan of The Ramones, The Talking Heads, or CS Lewis.
5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Josh SpencerIt was good to hear that one of the few interesting punk bands today, Blaster the Rocketboy, had signed with Jackson-Rubio and changed their name. Maybe their creativity and lyrical prowess would be given the production and direction it needed to break out of the indie sloppiness that plagued their first two releases. No such luck. The production is still muddy and the songs still sound all the…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Todd BallardWith the exception of a few greats, Christian music boasts a hodgepodge of musical genres that do nothing more than mimic what the world is currently doing. But occasionally a band rises to show that we are a "peculiar people" and Blaster the Rocketman is indeed a peculiar group. Although reviewers and fans alike have often compared Blaster to the Dead Kennedys and the Dickies, there really isn't…
