LAWNMOWER DETH — Mower Liberation Front / Quack 'Em All (review)

LAWNMOWER DETH — Mower Liberation Front / Quack 'Em All album cover Split · 1988 · Crossover Thrash Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Vim Fuego
All you really need to know about Lawnmower Deth and Metal Duck is that both bands were seriously funny.

This split album was the debut release for both bands. It is now hard to find in any format, but the fact that fans are still desperate to get their hands on the album attests to the enduring attraction of a sense of humour and good fun thrash tunes. Part of the attraction is the self-effacing humour. Neither band took themselves terribly seriously at a time when thrash was generally a very earnest business. Some bands, like Sacred Reich took on serious issues, like politics and prejudice, successfully. Others, like Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam, and even Nuclear Assault just came off sounding cheesy.

But really, who cares about nuclear war or environmental problems when you can have songs with lyrics as classy as “Watch out Grandma, here comes a lawnmower/Gonna rip your face off” repeated over and over. Lawnmower Deth tackled the odd issue later in their career, but back when they recorded ‘M.L.F.’ their only concern was liberating repressed lawnmowers everywhere. There is not a serious moment on the entire album, but you wouldn’t expect it with song titles like “I Got the Clap and My Knob Fell Off” and “Drink To Be Sick”. Yep, if Lawnmower Deth were going to get called crap, they were going to have fun doing it.

Musically though, they were not crap at all. Filtering through the decidedly dodgy production, there are some excellent riffs surfacing, and a more than competent rhythm section. If Lawnmower Deth had taken themselves seriously, they could easily have outperformed Xentrix, Re-Animator or even Acid Reign as far as British thrash goes.

Metal Duck shared the same type of humour lyrically (“Cheese Puff Death Squad”, “March of the Metal Duck to the Duck Ponds of Hell”), but trod different ground musically. Rather than the UKAC (United Kingdom Apple Core) style thrash of Lawnmower Deth, their brand of urine extraction was accompanied by a rougher, faster style, at times verging on old school grindcore. In places, it is possible to believe you are listening to old Extreme Noise Terror, dual vocals and all. Of course, ENT didn’t usually play songs whose lyrics consisted of counting to 12.

This is a short split album, even though there are 24 tracks. Both bands took great delight in peppering their recordings with hyperblast micro-songs. At times hard to comprehend, but always funny when you can grasp what’s going on, this split album achieves something very important. It leaves you wanting more.
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