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Ripsnorter Reviews

Infected Reviews

Infected

Like a death march of punk madness, Ripsnorter has entered a new plain of musical chaos with the improved sound and die-hard mentality of the new album "Infected."

A band that started in 1994 with a thrash heavy influence has gained a triumphant Karate Kid-like structure of sound, from taking out the Cobra Kai with chord progression to using the crane to knock-out the last cymbal slam, Ripsnorter has compiled years of global hardcore influence to create "Infected."

The forceful layers of the album make the listener stand and yell for more, without Billy Idol. A chant heavy album of "rock," with a dash of the 80s, lets ears pound with pleasure.

From "Horizon," a track built on memories, to the intensely solo-soaked "Against the Grain," both of which have a thick wall of attitude built off of a solid vocal influence, some may recognize as Glenn Danzig of The Misfits era (Ripsnorter also has a Misfits tribute band titled Ripfits).

Ripsnorter has gathered the taste of a Black Flag concert of 1992, with the heart of a Iron Maiden show of 86' within "Infected."

If the ears are faint of getting fried by random thoughts and the chaos of old school punk rock, this is not the album to kick over Grandma's glass table to, but if kickin' down doors only to hang from the chandelier before leaving the party sounds like a Saturday night fiasco of fun, then "Infected" will do justice.

By Kaleb Bronson - Rift Magazine

The extreme punk, rock, hardcore sounds of Ripsnorter on their third full length c.d. entitled "Infected", energizes and catapults the listener's senses into a frenzied variety of emotion's. Through the use of catchy guitar hooks, harmonic guitar back drops, powerfully thumping bass lines, smoothly delivered vocals, tasty drums and exaggerated time change, many of the thirteen songs on "Infected" are a real addictive treat to the ears.

This Minneapolis based band has created uniquely energetic music since 1994 with a viable fan base of self acclaimed, "Die hards", spanning from every corner of the U.S. and in many foreign markets. Ripsnorters current lineup on there 2008 release, "Infected" is quit simply a well produced and fit mix of music with instrumentation by JME on lead guitar and vocals. Andy on rhythm guitar. They bring out the fullest in a reputable punk hardcore guitar sound. Ripsnorter has a strongly enhanced back rhythm and beat that is catchy and ritualistically dark at the same time driven by Jay on drums and Damien on the bass guitar. Filling the void between heaven and hell through a wicked low end.

From the eerie sound effects that are surprisingly welcoming on the opening song, "Wasteland" to the last distorted guitar/sing along of Creedence Clearwater Revival's cult song (the only cover on "Infected")"Bad Moon Rising"

I found the vocal effect's on "Cocoon" to be a joyous change that erupted my imagination with strongly delivered vocals that garnished my attention thoroughly throughout. I felt part of being human (is the pain) of wanting the song to continue long after its ending. "Box of Culture" is another one of my personal favorites with an irreplaceable bass guitar (Damien) and lead/rhythm guitars that are punctuated on the beat of a dime at a split second by drummer Jay. Surprisingly the emotions of JME shine dangerously through the vocal affects and falsifies any discern that punk is for screamers without harmonious, catchy vocals.

The bands MySpace posted song at www.myspace.com/RIPSNORTER , "Caught Between Heaven and Hell" is just a small tantalizing tease of what one can find on this well produced L.P.(Mixed/Mastered at Logic Studios-Engineered by Brian "Gary"Bart) With an all out frontal bass assault and penetration rhythm guitars (Andy) going the distance from song after song, any fan of quality punk music with a flare for change and dramatics, will find themselves in a sing along, long after a few listens.

For more information on who Ripsnorter is and how you can obtain your copy of "Infected" visit the above mentioned MySpace or log onto www.Ripsnorter.com

Ripsnorter definitely takes the road less traveled in music today with an all out balls to the walls attitude and thunderous punk rock sound. Ripsnorter continues to give the middle finger to the establishment without missing a beat in the constantly growing hardcore, punk, rock scene.

Sinfully, Q/5 - Muen Magazine

Ripsnorter has spent many years bloodying their knuckles for the honor of the horror punk genre. Why do they do it? Are they sick? Are they masochists, secretly getting off on pouring their glistening guts out on self-released discs and in front of feeble crowds in dirty dives? Why do all of these horror punk bands do this to themselves? In Ripsnorter's case, it's obvious. They do it because they love it. That love comes through in songs like "Infected," in which the victim of a zombie bite begs for a bullet through the brain. The scenario isn't simply played up for shock value. Like all good horror, the focus is on the emotions. You can hear the narrator's conflict, asking to end a life not lived to the fullest in order to prevent him from putting anyone else in the same position he's in. Here's hoping Ripsnorter keeps waving the horror punk banner well past the impending zombie apocalypse.

- MP Johnson - Razorcake

BEWARE...CONTAGION!

This is the latest effort from this horror influenced, melodic, punk/hardcore act from Minnesota. The album begins with a chilling intro, entitled "Wasteland." It reeks...and I mean reeks...of true horror. It kicks right into the powerful and catchy track "Dust." Now, that song slays!

I don't feel it necessary to break down every track individually. Each song stands on it's own real well. JME's vocals are well-crafted. The musicianship on this release is also spot on. Overall, this is a very strong album. It doesn't seem too formulaic...which is a good thing. It even finishes off with a cover of CCR's "Bad Moon Rising."

These guys don't seem too interested in following the same, stale horror punk motif that so many other bands adhere to. So, if you're looking for an escape from all the "doo-woppy" horror acts out there, check out Ripsnorter..and their release, "Infected." It's catchy, heavy, and solid from beginning to end. Do yourself the favor and write them on myspace and grab a copy.

Werewolves on Wheels 'Zine

After spending the better part of the past fifteen years toiling in the Minneapolis punk scene, Ripsnorter has emerged with INFECTED. Their latest self-released album features 13 tracks of Misfits-influenced hardcore horrorpunk and features a guest appearance by "Scream Queen" Linnea Quigley (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD).

I'm not a big fan of the "intro" track that bands tend to slap on the front of each album, and this one is no exception. Clocking in at 2:22, "Wasteland" is a slow drudge of ringing chords and synth, well-worth skipping to get right into the good stuff.

"Dust" sets the stage for the rest of the album with raw guitar crunch and a tale of a rotting corpse well on it's way to fading into dust itself. The title track fits well with the album's 28 DAYS LATER-inspired artwork, as "Infected" begs for death before the effects of a zombie plague takes hold.

"BEFORE I DIE PLEASE KILL ME
PUT A BULLET IN MY BRAIN
'CAUSE MY THIRST FOR BLOOD IS GROWING
I DON'T WANT TO WAKE UP DEAD"
from INFECTED

"Box of Culture" is the one track on the set that breaks from the traditional formula, with a a great groove and catchy hook. "Scream Queen", features Quigley doing what she does best at strategic breaks during this love-letter to B-movies and the women that "call out...through the silver screen." Also of note is the closing cover of CCR's "Bad Moon Rising", which I wouldn't be a bit surprised to hear pop up on the soundtrack for an indie horror flick somewhere down the line.

While INFECTED is nothing groundbreaking, the album is a punchy 40-minutes of punk rock, and excellent for those who wish to hunt zombies.

James Zahn FANGORIA MUSICK - Musick Reviews

Ripsnorter again are the punks they ever were, with a tweaked sound that resounds in the vein of Social Distortion, Overwhelming Colorfast, Therapy? and Bad Religion.

If you live in a cocoon it's time to hatch and fly around the world painted by Ripsnorter. As many punk rock lyricists are underrated - let this not become another band who is overlooked.

Here are the subjects of discussion, for pondering: the human life cycle (inclusive of life and death), the question "why?", self, eternity, honest emotional perspectives, grief, self determination, brainwashing ala the box (you choose, the tV or computer), motives in war, carpe diem, horror flick star. Twelve out of 13 tracks we consider hot as heck.

Guitar solos are apparent in this disc and bring to mind the kingpin of brains behind Dinosaur,Jr. Rhythm guitar sounds like the Meat Puppets and Bl'ast on steroids. From the onset of Wasteland through Infected the vocals were more gritty and sandy, yet infectious.

Caught Between Heaven and Hell through Scream Queen the singing is more gang style and howlish like Danzig's headstrong early punk days. With respect to the drums and bass, full on, fast and punctual. Not the typical 8/16 beat arrangments - fancy cymbal work and bombastic fills and rolls. When you hear the bass guitar lines you can better appreciate the speed and alacrity by which punk musicians play.

We stumbled onto this band in search of a band that does Misfits covers, this is not what we found. We found a hidden treasure from the mid-west. Who would have guessed true-core punk would come from Minnesota - times are a changin'! Buy it for yourself, hear it for yourself!

Help Along Your Way

ROOTS II - The Return Compilation

Roots II

ROOTS II - The Evil Return of Roots II
is the second installment (only about six months apart, it seems to me)of the Roots compilation CD series on Minneapolis's Root-O-Evil Records. The first CD was released jointly with neighbor label Left Alone Creations, whereas Roots II comes solely under the Root-O-Evil banner. Once again it's a real mixed bag in terms of both style and quality. A lot of demo-level project bands seems to be the trend with the tracklists of the Roots series. Entries from the two-bored-pretty-funny-guys category this time around include 2 Nice Fellows giving Lemmy his due (performing a cover of "Ace of Spades"), Pantalones Abajo Marinero, and the Moron Take-a-Dirt-Nap Choir (doing an a capella song called "Fuck You"). The "Ace of Spades" thing is really pretty funny, and the Especially Likely Sloth track (a cover of "Hammer Smashed Face") is also quite choice. Along for the ride are killer tracks from Sigh. Impaler, Nothing, and 21st Century Sin, which muster a level! of professionality that the aforementioned certainly lack (and with good reason). Ripsnorter is definately one to watch, with a very catchy blend of thrash metal and Misfits-style horror punk apparent in "Millennium". I don't know what the pricing of these CD's is, but if they were, say 5 bucks, it'd be worth it. These will come out regularly I guess, and as long as the line-up stays at some album- level bands, some SERIOUS demo-level bands, and two or three funny things, it might survive as a kind of underground variety show.

- WORD OF MOUTH #14

ROOTS II - The Return Compilation
Any compilation with an unreleased SIGH track on it is worth pretty much any cost, but if I understand correctly, Roots II is "budget priced" (5$ I think) so track down a copy of this immediately. Other highlights include GROINCHURCH, SOMNUS, RIPSNORTER, PORCELAIN GOD, and 612 CREW. I suggest skipping over embarassing 4th track (a truly horrible karaoke version of "ACE OF SPADES"). And there are quite a few other really bad bits on here, but just skip 'em in favor of the cool stuff. 7.75

- METAL CURSE #12

This is Horrorpunk II - The Terror Continues

This is Horrorpunk II

VARIOUS ARTISTS
This Is Horrorpunk 2... The Terror Continues
(Fiendforce)
Whoa-Ohhh, Whoa-Oh-Oh-Oh!!!

The Misfits are an influential band. Almost up there with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath I dare say! The Jersey devils certainly have a hardcore cult following among musicians that just seems to grow and grow. Like that man-eating plant in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS!

From the first listen to the second installment of this horrorpunk extravaganza from Fiendforce Records, I become even more confident in my above claim. Baritone/Danzig-type vocals and whoa-oh's abound on this testimonial to horror music (Calabrese, Plan 9 and the Vladimirs - take a bow). And some of them sound better than what is being peddled to us as the Misfits at this point in time!

But if you think that is all that is going on here think again! Elements of metal, garage, surf and straight up rock and roll all dress up scary and take a poke at the bloody pinata.

And I must say right up front that Fiendforce Records is SO IMPORTANT to horror music fans all over the world. This label/web store is like a big, fat trick or treat bag for everyone involved in the scene from fans to musicians. They are true heroes to those of us that like our music on the dark and gruesome side. And dark and gruesome is on display here in abundance!!

The great thing about this release is the mixture of new talent with the old school artists. And the veterans make up a virtual who's who of the spooky rock genre! Dinah Cancer (Penis Flytrap, Dinah Cancer and the Graverobbers) on two tracks no less, Steve Zing (Doomtree), Blasko (The Death Riders), Wednesday 13, Forbidden Dimension all contribute some of the strongest tracks on the disc. My personal fave is the band Frankenstein, which features members of Christian Death and Voodoo Church. This band rocks like Lemmy's creepy cousin doing steroids with The Damned on the tune "Lovecraft". Awesome, awesome stuff that has sent me on a mad quest to acquire more of their music.

Bloodjunkies, The Rosedales, Shadow Reichenstein, Ripsnorter and "special guests" The 69 Eyes are all highlights on a compilation filled with excellent bands (There are a couple turds but I'll let you sniff them out yourself!). You really can't go wrong picking this one up and then go to Fiendforce and buy all the full-lengths from these artists... where else you gonna go for all your horror rock needs? Best Buy!!? Rrrriiiight!!!!

4 Hits From Mars Compilation 7"ep

4 Hits from Mars

VARIOUS ARTISTS "4 Hits From Mars" (Fandango Records)
SCORE: 84/100
This Misfits tribute 7 inch is for those who want to hear covers that sound a lot like the original songs, and many Misfits Bible subscribers really enjoyed this. (My congrats to Chris for being able to get ahold of this one! - Ed.) It is very hard to find as it was limited to 300 vinyl copies (100 each in black vinyl, gold and blue.) and were only made available to Misfits Bible members and those who had Fandango's address. Anyway, the disc starts off with a nice brutal version of 'Die Die My Darling' by Undermine: pretty heavy and the vocals are reminiscent of a much younger James Hetfield from their "Kill 'Em All" days. Silent Noise (a.k.a. Tim Cotter) does a pretty cool version of 'Horror Business,' which sounds a little like that solo 7 inch Danzig did back in 1981 ('Who Killed Marilyn/Spook City U.S.A.') -- all instruments and production done by one person. Ripsnorter does an almost exact studio replica of 'Skulls' which sounds really good, kinda makes you wonder what their original stuff sounds like. The Idiot Police (Wow! Where do they come up with all these cool names?) covered 'We Are 138,' which sounds different from the original, mainly the vocals, and it's also rather poorly produced, which is rather a downside but it does keep that punk edge to it that '138' was always known for. Overall it's a pretty good album, nothing whiny or whimpy about it. These are all true Misfits Fiends, and this disc is a good tribute to one of the greatest bands on Earth.

- Review by Chris J. Waters - Vibrations of Doom issue #15

VARIOUS ARTISTS "4 Hits From Mars"
Your version of Skulls on the 4 Hits 7" is the most dead-on perfect cover I have ever heard. It's so amazingly close to the original. Excellent job!

-Mark, Misfits Central

VARIOUS ARTISTS "4 Hits From Mars"
Just got my copy of 4 Hits From Mars. Now I'll take my turn at reviewing the E.P. First of all, though, I'd like to say thanks to Jake Starr for going through the trouble of putting this together. It's a professional looking production, not to mention the low cost. For 4 bucks you can't go wrong. Anyway, all the bands were great. These four songs get much more play than the entire Violent World Tribute. They are more interesting too. You can tell that the people performing the songs are real fans. I would have to say that my favorite would be Ripsnorter with Skulls. They definitely get that classic "Misfits" sound. Cool vocals. Running a close second is Undermine with Die Die My Darling. The other bands, the Idiot Police with We Are 138 and Silent Noise with Horror Business, also do a great job. If I got to pick the lineup for the Violent World Tribute, these four bands would be first in line.

VARIOUS ARTISTS "4 Hits From Mars"
Hey Bible Fiends In a few words: BUY "4 HITS FROM MARS" ! I've been listening to it all weekend, it's great. These guys could (should) have been on Violent World; that's how good it sounds. Here's my pitifully inadequate review: --"Die, Die my Darling" is easily my fav cut on the album. Tom Undermine sounds like a young Glenn Danzig and says "DIE ! DIE !" like he means it. --Tim Cotter's take on "Horror Business" makes me want to buy my own home studio and record everything myself too. You really can't tell it's just him. --Ripsnorter's (The RipFiTS) "Skulls" sounded good and raw. like a fit's song should. --The Idiot Police's "We are 138" sounds very cool, very angry. Overall I loved every track. It was more like the Misfits than the Misfits. I have to say I was ready NOT to like this album. I was expecting lot's of sincere but awful crooning, so-so musicianship and "blah" interpretations not to mention cheapish production values. This did not come to pass. Never again will I doubt the abilities of the Fiends. This is a cool, professionally made album. It was made for us. Buy it ! Buy it now ! It's 4 dollars for christsakes, how can you go wrong ? If you don't have the money, give an old lady a lapdance or something and you'll make the dough easily enough. And girls, just send me one (1) nude photo of yourself and I'll buy the tribute for you ! Shit, if you're good looking enough I'll hand deliver it to your door ;-) So you see ! There's NO excuse for not buying it.

R!psnorter Rad!o

R!psnorter Rad!o

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