Reviews

O Pioneers!!!

Black Mambas

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Review Date: 2007-01-11

I was watching the movie Rudy the other day because it seems to be on TV all the time so I thought that I should watch it. I like Rudy or maybe I understand Rudy now, not that there was a lot to understand about it in the first place. In any case this time around I recall a quote that the coach says to Rudy, it was something along the lines of “I wish I could put your heart in some of my player’s bodies”. As I sit down to write this review I wish I could put O Pioneer’s heart into more talented and capable hands. Like Rudy, O Pioneers don’t have a lot of talent, but they do have diaper load of heart, which wins me over in a lot of respects.

O Pioneers consists of a dude named Jeff who plays relatively straight drums, and a dude named Eric who plays a bunch of power-chords and screams. They can barely hold a note when singing and I’m betting you’d be hard-pressed to decipher the difference between the chorus and the verse in most of the songs. The sound is folk-punk and they sing about topics such as negative drinking, the DIY “ethics” system, selling out and playing dives. If you’ve ever heard the album Reinventing Axl Rose by Against Me! then Black Mambas will feel familiar. I make that comparison because I like that album and I like those topics even if I’ve completely souled out myself.

Black Mambas generally has one sonic sound. The whole album sounds like it was recorded with analog equipment and doesn’t include any layered tracks, varying guitar sounds, drum sounds, or singing styles. It’s played pretty consistently with no hooks just two guys ramming their ideas (11 songs altogether) down your throat as fast as they can. One of the most evocative moments on this album comes at the end by way of “Remember When It Meant Something” where Eric screams, "Play with your hearts / Scream out your thoughts" which sums up the entirety of what this duo is about.

While most other bands are busy complaining about getting dumped and how you shouldn’t eat chicken McNuggets, O Pioneers haven't done anything to make me feel that what they are saying may not be what they believe. Their ideology is basically that anyone with a guitar and a motive to pick up and play should be heard or deserves to be heard. If you cater to this philosophy, you’d do well to pick up Black Mambas. At the very least they have three exclamation points in their name so that pretty much makes them loads better than Against Me! or Panic! at the Disco. This certainly isn’t a user friendly album by any stretch of the imagination but O Pioneers have made the football team, even if they won’t be dressing for any games.

Score: 7.4

- Mark Browdy