King Snake Roost - Dead All Over

King Snake Roost - Dead All Over (1987)

More intense thick slabs of bass in your face from the 80s. This one might just be the peak for me. Everything about this...

Demented Australian subterranean rock (feedtime, Salamander Jim, Lubricated Goat, Thug, Box The Jesuit, Fungus Brains, Venom P Stinger, Black Eye Records et al.) was at a supreme level at the time. Unfortunately for me I was still in high school in the middle of Woop Woop so I didn't get to experience this post-Birthday Party/post-hardcore noise-rock first hand during its scuzzy prime. Indeed King Snake Roost were done and dusted by 1990 before I'd reached the big smoke.

The menacing funky bass here is provided by Michael Raymond who's obviously indebted to J J Burnel and Tracy Pew. I don't really know that much about him. The debut King Snake Roost album From Barbarism To Christian Manhood seems to be the only record he ever worked on. While KSR recorded three LPs in their time and were somewhat renowned because ex-Grong Grong and Bloodloss legend Charles Tolnay was the guitarist, this first LP in particular, artistically belongs to Raymond. He wrote the music and lyrics for six of the album's eight songs including Dead All Over. Then he appears to disappear from the music scene entirely never to return. Did he die or just retire? Déjà vu. 

KSR would go on to infamy and acclaim with their following two LPs and subsequent signing to Amphetamine Reptile Records after Michael Raymond's departure. For me though From Barbarism To Christian Manhood is their highlight.