Savage Republic boring?

[seismo!hplabs!hpfcla!hpfclr!davel]

>Savage Republic is boring.

Listen to Savage Republic's first album "Tragic Figures" and eat those
words.

[Okay, okay -- I'll listen to it!  But I'm not eatin' them yet...
--Doug]

Savage Republic is NOT boring.  Their first album is very raw and
percussive.  Heavy bass lines and catchy guitar riffs backed up with
wild clanging of various metal objects give it a high energy level.
"Kill The Facists" is an especially noisy song where you can imagine a
tribe of primitives performing a death song while their victim is tied
to a stake... Savage Republic always manages to evoke an ethnic feel
with their music, creating African and Arabic sounds.  This is quite
an accomplishment for an L.A. band.

Early in '86, Savage Republic released an EP called "Trudge".  There are
four instrumentals here aptly named Trudge, Trek, Siege and Assembly.
The mood created is of a military invasion where each song is a different
stage of the invasion.  Trudge has a droning bass line, reminding you of
a military procession.  Siege begins slowly, gains energy and then ends in
a noisy climax.  All voices found on this record consists solely of chants
and screams.

Later in '86, Savage Republic followed with their second LP "Ceremonial".
The mood here is quite different from Trudge, but it follows nicely.
The mood is upbeat and joyous.  The wonderful guitar textures which give
Savage Republic their unique sound are very prominent on this album.  They
get this sound from differently tuned guitars.  What throws you off about
this album are the vocals.  The first cut is sung by a woman and comes off
great.  It is perhaps the best anthem song of 1986.  The other cuts with
vocals made me gag at first.  My impression was that the men's voice was
wimpy and the lyrics too sappy & idealistic.  On more listens, I came to
accept it though.  Side 2 of this album is all instrumental.  This is the
first Savage Republic release with Robert Loveless (from 17 Pygmies).  His
influence is really felt, maybe too much.  But overall, "Ceremonial" is a
very good album.

Savage Republic has really cleaned up their sound from the early days, but
they still are producing truly unique and interesting music.  Buy their
records and find out yourself!  You can read more about them in the Nov/Dec
issue of Option.

*****************************************************************************

	Dave Lechtenberg.		{hplabs,ihnp4}!hpflca!davel