The Shambolic - The Dead, The Dying & The Damned

The Shambolic

The Dead, The Dying & The Damned
self-released; 2015

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
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The three-piece rock band The Shambolic revolves around songwriters Al (guitar/vocal) and Lee (bass/vocal). For seven years the band was playing, writing and touring. It wasn’t till 2014 that they decided to get off the road and record The Dead, The Dying & The Damned.

The Dead, The Dying & The Damned is a raw, rock album that contains a lot of dirt and grime. It’s unpolished, feels indignant and visceral and that really is part of the charm. The band has acknowledged that the singer sounds like Lemmy from Motorhead and there is just no denying that fact. That being said it works and feels appropriate for the music. 

These songs go down best with a fifth of whiskey in your hand and good amount of disdain for a former lover. Take for instance the opener “Death Of Me” which melds two chord punk style chord progression with a good amount of energy that makes you want to see the band live. The vocalist sings, “You’re gonna be the death of me / Hot and run like you threaten me / An obsession of your jealousy.”

More fantastic lyrics balance humor and poetic ambiguity like a pro on “Jarhead.” He sings, “Me n my boots have climbed up mountains / Me n my boots have been out dancing / Me n my boots have faught n fell / Me n my boots have been through hell.” The band continues to slay with killer rock songs, which have tinges of post-punk like “Crawl.” “Here2Rok” gets sludgy and gritty while “I Like It” contains a number of impressive crescendos. 

The band closes with an absolutely epic title track. They take no prisoners on this eleven-minute song as they pull off guitar riffs that would make Black Sabbath fans proud and even delve into some territory that felt quite different than anything else on the album. I loved the army style snare rolls. 

I have never seen The Shambolic in concert but my impression after listening to The Dead, The Dying & The Damned is that they are at their best live. These songs sound live and the energy they have feels so immediate that you can feel it through the speakers. I’m not sure if I’ll see The Shambolic anytime soon but The Dead, The Dying & The Damned will certainly suffice for now.

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