I’m hard-pressed to think of a better album title than Rabies In Town. Awesome! Theses pasty-skinned Germans offered up a nice metal smorgasbord on this, their second LP (Mausoleum Records). As a listener, I think of everything from Dio to Alice Cooper to Spinal Tap. Underdog, it seems, were refreshingly self-aware of metal’s inherent goofiness. This is apparent on the enlightening title track Rabies In Town, in which singer Mike “Spider” Linster blissfully brags about spreading rabies by biting people in the ass. Intellectually stimulating lyrical nuggets include: “Here comes a baker, and I bite him in the ass!” and “I get the doctor, and I bite him in the ass!”. Then, of course, there is Spider’s proud declaration: “The devil is my Dad!”. Jack Black and Tenacious D, eat your heart out! Underdog (wisely) used their sense of humor sparingly, as not to turn Rabies In Town into an all out parody/novelty album. There’s some serious metal here, too. At the end of the day, Rabies In Town has three songs that I really like. The first is the aforementioned lyrical masterpiece Rabies In Town, the second is the Dio-esque album opener Nightmares, and the third is the surprisingly poignant Goodbye Blue Sky. All carried lustily to your ear holes with rock solid production, and with a commanding and charismatic vocal performance by Linster. My score: B
I had never heard of this band before … due to your praise, I’ll check them out!