Album Review: The Birds of Satan - 'The Birds of Satan'

When you are the drummer for one of the biggest rock bands in the world, your "friends getting together for some fun" recordings get turned into an album and given a worldwide release that most groups only dream of delivering. It doesn't hurt that some of those friends are Dave Grohl and Pat Smear by the way.

So here we have it, Taylor Hawkins, drummer of the Foo Fighters, has come together with the buddies that he used to play in cover bands with to create The Birds of Satan, a rock album paying homage to 70's metal and rock.

The record opens with the massive ten minute rock-fest that is 'The Ballad of The Birds of Satan', a track that pretty much sums up what you should expect from this record straight away: plenty of drum and guitar solos, riffing to death and some surprisingly extremely Foo sounding vocals. Hawkins makes his mark wherever possible, sometimes however not for long enough, as he opens 'Thanks For The Line', a QOTSA/Spinal Tap mash up, with a percussive beat that unfortunately switches to something far more standard.

Basically every song starts with a short drum introduction, including album highlight 'Raspberries', a sentimental ballad type track, which has some melodic intertwining guitars that steal the show before the pedals are switched for bursts of rock.

Hawkins' vocals suit the record well. It is clear he has picked up some tips from Grohl, but his gruff and semi-smooth mix fits in amongst the solos and pounding drums well. The record ends with the fast paced and catchy 'Wait Til Tomorrow' and the quintessential organ driven seventies ballad, complete with vocal harmonies and spaceship sounds, 'Too Far Gone Too See'.

At times it seems like there is a near comedic view of how well homage is paid to a certain era in these recordings. This makes it all the more fun however and is offset with some pretty solid musicianship.

Children of the seventies can finally smoke that joint they have been hiding in their sock draw and saving for the night that the kids sleep over at their friend’s house while head-banging along with this modern day piece of nostalgia.

1. The Ballad of The Birds of Satan

2. Thanks For The Line

3. Pieces of the Puzzle

4. Raspberries

5. Nothing At All

6. Wait Til Tomorrow

7. Too Far Gone To See