Tiger Junkies: Green Tea or Die (2013)

I have covered Tiger Junkies once before with their sole full-length release.  This is a follow-up EP that came a couple of years later.  The band is a side project between Yasuyuki Suzuki from Abigail and Joel Grind from Toxic Holocaust.  It was a way for the two to go back to show some of their punk roots.

This is an extremely short release, consisting of just four songs and just over eleven minutes in length.  The songs are fast-paced, usually based around a single punk-esque riff.  I am pretty sure most of the song titles, including the title track are jokes referencing other song titles, though I cannot quite put my finger on them, or tell why.  The vocals are usually switched off between the two singers, with Grind's vocals being a little deeper and less raspy.  The release flies by and is over before one really gets into it.

This release is fine, but it is probably a little closer to the punk side of things than metal.  That is fine at times and this is definitely a release to get the blood pumping.  Its brevity is probably its best feature as it is easy to turn on, listen to quickly and move on.

FMA: Tiger Junkies: D-Beat Street Rock 'n Rollers (2008)

Originally reviewed here.

I had seen mention of Tiger Junkies quite a bit but I never really looked into them. Part of that is probably due to the band's ridiculous name. It is the kind of name you might expect for a hair band. And the "D-Beat" in the album name is more of a reference to something hardcore, rather than metal. I never really looked much farther than that and certainly not enough to see who was attached to the project.

If I had looked at the two individuals responsible for Tiger Junkies, I would have felt a lot different about checking them out. That is because Tiger Junkies is made up of Joel Grind from Toxic Holocaust (a favorite of mine) and Yasuyuki Suzuki of Abigail (who I am not as familiar with but still enjoy). The band began as a tradition between the two in which Grind would play with Suzuki whenever he happened to be in Japan. I am a big Toxic Holocaust fan and also enjoy Grind's work with Yellowgoat, even though both projects are basically the same thing. This is a re-release of the project's 2008 album with some extra material thrown in and one song removed.

With Grind's involvement, it is pretty clear what style of music this is going to be. It is a fast-paced thrash/crossover style that owes a great deal to the music of Motörhead, Discharge, Agnostic Front's Cause for Alarm and early Corrosion of Conformity. It is hardcore punk played with a lot of metallic riffs and a punk attitude. The songs are all fast and short with sneering vocals provided by both Grind and Suzuki oftentimes in a call-and-response style. The songs are not overly sophisticated, the riffs are simple and straightforward and the lyrics are typically about sex, partying, and booze.

Ultimately this is a dumbed-down, simplistic crossover album. There is something to be said for music that you can just put on and trash everything in sight while listening to. This is not for people who want their music to say something as it really doesn't. It's hardcore mixed with metal. That's it. There's nothing wrong with that.