Psychobilly is a genre where you know that most people who listen to it can't be completely normal. They don't want to be, but do they really want to be as crazy as P.O.X.?
And who is P.O.X.?
P.O.X., or Psychobilly Orchestra X, is considered the first German psychobilly band and is legendary.
Legendary because of their history.
Legendary because of their reputation.
Legendary because of their sound and especially their lyrics.
Where most psychobilly bands approach madness with a certain degree of humor, P.O.X. completely goes off the rails.
The sound is dry. Bone dry. The sound is hard, very hard. It reminds one of the Italians from Evil Devil. They also play an unusually hard, serious sound that finds its perfection here.
The guitar pushes strictly forward, the bass is hard, dry, and aggressive. The drums set the beat of death, and the rest of the band follows suit. The most sinister element, however, is the voice of Beaker Pox, the singer, the head of the band, and a founding member.
P.O.X. is not about trying to be harder and more brutal than other bands; they simply are. The foundation of the sound, the 80s psycho sound, can still be heard, but it is transplanted into the present time through today's technology and the band's skill.
The lyrics of P.O.X. are just like the sound.
Whether songs like “Psycho for a Lifetime,” the extremely dreadful “Insanity is no Disgrace,” or the suicide soundtrack “I don’t like me,” every line speaks of the abysses of humanity, of the abysses of the psyche.
The band was controversial in the past and will remain so with this record. The song “Fuehrer Blues” will contribute to that. A song that does not glorify the Nazi regime but simply highlights the subservience of the people, the subservience of each individual, based on one of the most extreme examples in human history. Although, the church probably had and still has more disciples and caused more injustice, but comparing injustice, horror, and death, in the sense of what was worse, is something truly abhorrent that I will not do.
With “Fuehrer Blues,” I am reminded of OHL, who are also often pushed into a right-wing corner by people who cannot or do not want to understand the band. I would never place P.O.X. in the right-wing corner, but understanding this band is similarly difficult.
“Insanity is no Disgrace” is a wicked piece of music. Abominably wicked!
