Regurgitator - 'Love And Paranoia' (Valve) Released 01/09/08

Its not a good habit to get into, but in the case of Regurgitator’s ‘Love And Paranoia’ it’s almost impossible to resist judging the CD by its cover or rather the opening two track titles ‘Blood and Spunk’ and ‘Drinking Beer Is Awesome’. But for those familiar with the Australian self-styled electropopunk rockers, this should come as no surprise, with previous releases including the tracks ‘Fuck The Goddamn World’ and ‘I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am’. Cocksuckers or not, they have in fact shifted a platinum coated Ute full of records to get where they are today and to be fair, you can hardly expect a bunch of antipodeans to wax lyrical about their cultural history.

Having previously helped mould Australia’s indie-pop scene, their sixth studio album, an 80’s inspired, keyboard driven affair, encompasses a distinctive self-depreciating twisted irony and doesn’t disappoint. Although after first, second and even third listen, you’d be forgiven for not knowing whether to smile or dismiss it outright as a collection of misplaced jokes.

You would however be wrong; explosively carefree from the start, the Brisbane four-piece have drenched their pop-rock sound with throbbing splashes of electro and an undisputable Aussie sound. While ‘Hurricane’, ‘Sun Comes Through My Window’ and ‘(Ad Spot)’ throw bursts of surf club fillers into the mix, ‘Destroy This Town’ and ‘Psychic Dirt’ melts dirty bass lines into infectious guitar riffs while name checking E.T. and referring to Phil Collins’ ‘Sussudio’ as “fucking genius”. More importantly, the albums high shutter speed energy is clearly established.

Although undeniably good beer soaked fun, it’s the unguarded romanticism of the album that allows the band to truly shine through the full tilt raucousness of the title track, controlled pop vocal simplicity of ‘Magnetic’ (courtesy of new band member Seja Vogel) and the cherry red pop rock of ‘Michelle’. However, the albums standout track is the unconventionally unconditional love song ‘Romance Of The Damned’ in which Yeomans and Vogel vocally compare notes on a mutually obsessive stalking relationship a la Human League.

Although a good album at face value, it’s enjoyment is short lived and its initial appeal soon wears off, with only the lyric “drinking beer is awesome” left ringing in your ears, although Regurgitator probably don’t give a XXXX what we think.