The Battlebeats is an Indonesian garage rock that will take you back to the late ’00s… or is it the mid-90’s? ….late ’60s? There were a lot of periods when garage rocks seemed at its zenith in terms of popular music (at least in the United States). We’re about a decade out from any real revival of these kinds of sounds at present, but if you find yourself starved for some hot, lean hooks and the rumble of an amplifier overheating, then The Battlebats are a sonic-cavalry charge, riding over the brow of a distant hill to rescue you from the dark ages of a world that has forsaken the rock gods of old.
The Battlebeats debut album Search And Destroy is unapologetic in its homage to the ’90s trouble makers Teengenerate, employing a slashing, down stroking guitar technique, punched up a kick with the pan-fried sear of some Reatards-esque grooves. A slap, scratch, and slice approach that hits above its weight, the same way an ocelot might be able to take down a pro-wrestler like Drew McIntyre if it were motivated enough. The production is exactly where you would want it to be for an album like this: Faithful enough to capture all of its idiomatic qualities of the guitar work while just hair enough to give the distortion the quality of a shag rug somebody spilled Panther Black Beer all over and then never bothers to mop up. Vocalist Andresa Nugraha further seals the delivery with his lurching, vomitous yelps and cheek-gnawing, clench-jawed spiels, sounding like Seiji from Guitar Wolf auditioning to be the frontman of the house band at a Bear Family reunion show.
Search And Destroy takes aim at Goner Records catalog inauguration with cuts like the acid-tipped rejoinder “You Stabbed Me In The Back” and the balled-tire peel of “It Should Have Been Me,” while “When I Got Rock ‘N’ Roll” and “You’re My Wild One” tumble off their barstools with two-shots of rockabilly fireball on their breath, “Bedroom Fiasco Blues” pays homage to Chuck Berry’s country roots, and “Search and Destroy” makes good on its threat with all the deranged enthusiasm of Jon Spencer, finally wrapping up with the co-ed cookie crumble of “Let’s Get Hurt.”
You can stream and purchase Search and Destroy below via Bandcamp:
Buy Search and Destroy via Alien Snatch! Records here.
