Kid Commando
“Holy Kid Commando”
(Ache)
This is the Swedish dual guitar and drum trio’s debut album. Holy Kid Commando is the sound of soldiers marching in to battle with themselves. Johan Lagerlof’s hostile vocals are the shouts of the angry general trying to mobilize and maintain the confidence of his troops. This is war, and the general’s kind of crazy. “The guitar was invented by aliens, to communicate with animals.”
The unrelenting attack comes in the form of fuzzy angular guitars and restless tribal drumming. Everything is caustic and sometimes intentionally a little off. The soldiers, afraid of dying, nervously trudge forward. The steady drums keep them in line. They are trying to maintain composure as the persistent mechanical pounding with which the music plods forward keeps the troops marching onto the battlefield. “Valhalla, move over,” here comes Kid Commando.
On the second track “Rhythm Beast,” the general boasts that he will make you use your muscles, and teach you a new rhythm that will “unleash you from gravity,” so you can “socialize with angels, birds, and mosquitoes,” because after all, “people with wings are just better people.” I don’t know who won, but nine tracks and 20 minutes later, you’re proud to have served, and glad it’s all over.
