The Mighty Bossmags – ‘Curio Cabinet’.
The Mighty Bossmags – Warrington, England, United Kingdom.
The Might Bossmags are from Warrington and when it comes to the already mainstream society dubbed oddness of the Punk scene this band are still really quite odd. Having been described as “Experimental Punk” by both themselves and others the band sound like a Pirate obsessed, horror-loving concoction of NOFX, Misfits and the Dead Kennedys if they had formed some sort of super group that to an extent at least, ended up a warped Ska-Punk project that also had a penchant for Jazz.
The band’s debut album was released at the end of October this year and with opening ‘An Introduction’ and what essentially eludes to what Dracula would sound like if he had fallen on economic hardship and was working for a second-rate fair or mid-20th Century Freakshow, you know you’re not in for any normal Punk album.
The Halloween Ska-Punk ‘Ghost Ship’ is entertaining and infectious. This band may well be acting the fool but they know what they are doing. As the second half of the track falls more into what you could call Pirate-Punk, the Folk rhythms and plodding percussion lead into a Ska Rendition of the Dead Kennedys featuring random but well place old-school Hardcore breakdowns.
‘Withered Hand’ for all its comedic haunts chases the band’s urge to simply play up-tempo Punk really quite well before the comically titled, Garage Punk toned, dry humoured classic British Punk-Rock of ‘Gazebo Anthrax’.
‘White Limosine’ for the most part doesn’t quite size-up to its predecessor but is a good enough “filler”track mid record but it does lead well into the Blues-Rock/Jazz/Ska crossover of ‘Poison Tree’ which is very much the slower track ‘White Limosine’ should have been until its half way point before blast of Americana-infused sharp Folk Punk plays you out in one of the best moments of this interesting album.
‘Too Much’ explores low melodic guitars and another Dead Kennedys-esque charge form distorted Punk well into Ska and then back into heavier ground. ‘Too Much’ is a serious contender for the top spot.
‘A&E’ teases with a mid-tempo Skate Punk intro before rumbling, Rock n’Roll toned early-Hardcore Punk takes over on subsiding for a marginally more melodic chorus. The Mighty Bossmags are quite successfully infusing as much as they can, as often as they can and its not sounding cheap.
‘Waste Of Time’ isn’t and waste of time at a point where the band remind you of fellow joking Punkers, The Crash Mats who you should really find – Here. ‘Rise and Fall’ is the longest and inevitable Dub track the old hands reading this knew was coming while ‘Ghost House’ is another comedic-haunt.
As much as the albums mid-latter part is by far its strongest, Curio Cabinet overall is very well written, the band have taken a wide range of influences and twisted them to their warped yet cohesively classic needs. Curio Cabinet ends with the band’s wit and comedic skills used for a song of serious content, this is a Punk-Rock album after all and despite its title, ‘Banana’, it has a point to make.
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