Originally hailing from Alberta, Canada, The Browns now reside in Madison Wisconsin. Donning three piece suits and black ski masks, The Browns a truly a band unlike any other. All of their music has horrorpunk lyrics, but their musical style is unique from anything else I've heard. They use catchy pop punk hooks, but the majority of their songs are too fast and energetic to be considered pop punk songs.
Band Members:
Charlie Brown- Vocals
Fast Eddie Brown- Guitars
Sir James Brown- Bass
Cleveland Brown- Drums
Brownie The Roadie- Not technically a band member. He doesn't sing or play an instrument, but he is such an important part of The Browns' live performances that he is generally considered to be a member of the band.
The ambitiously titled Greatest Hits Volume One is the first full length album released by The Browns. It is a perfect example of the band's unique style, blending horrorpunk lyrics, catchy pop punk hooks, and a hardcore punk influence. The first track on the album is a short track named Lady, Stay Dead! It starts off with a solitary guitar note, then drums, then extraneous profanity. After this is over the song begins in full swing. Lady, Stay Dead is one of the few tracks on the album where a pop punk hook is not present. This doesn't detract from the song in the least, though, as it's one of the fastest most energetic tracks on the album and a great opening song. After 3 notes from the crash cymbal the next track, Reggiemania begins. It's quite similar to the previous track, so I can't say anything bad about it, but at the same time it doesn't really bring anything new to the album.
Ah, now we start hearing the pop punk. The next track, Emmanuelle, is not one of the poppiest on the CD, but it is the first time any trace of pop punk is heard. The song starts out being pretty monotonous, but about halfway through an interlude comes in with what is possibly the catchiest pop punk melody I've ever heard. For that reason, Emmanuelle is one of my favorite tracks on the album. In the next track, however the pop punk soon dissapates when the verse of next track, Torso begins. Torso has the fastest tempo on the whole album and the verse is clearly influenced by The Misfits. The chorus, however, brings back the pop punk hooks, this time with just a bit of a hardcore edge. The next song Ghoulita, is the single poppiest track on the album. Lyrically, its a horrorpunk love song. Its a strange conflict of interests to hear such lyrics combined with such a poppy sound, but it does make for a very interesting listen. Towards the end of the song, everything stops except for the vocals, which remain unchanged. The Instruments slowly fill back in and build back into the poppy chorus of the song.
The next track, Wolfmobilemania, is a very unique and interesting and is one of the best on the disc. It starts with a quiet, slightly poppy intro and then without warning, jumps straight into a fast paced, downright punk verse, then goes back to the quiet intro. Again, it switches to the high tempo verse, then goes into an equally high tempo chorus, which again incorporates a pop punk hook. Some of you may already know the next track, American Werewolf in Calgary, because it was featured on the video game, Tony Hawk's Underground. It's a good song, but not one of the band's best, and was a poor choice to feature on the game. It also is poppy, but not nearly as catchy or unique as the other tracks on the album. However, the next song, Blood Sucking Freaks, is my favorite n the album. It isn't very poppy but is still very catchy, but the vocals are what truly make it such a good track. Charlie uses an interesting technique when singing the song that is very duifficult to describe. I would say its screechy, but that implies annoyingness, and its definately not annoying. He switches from very high notes to low notes very quickly, almost like yodeling, but that's annoying too. I really can't describe it, but i can say that it is unlike any other song I've heard.
The next song Silent Night, Deadly Night is almost as good as the previous one. It is one of the poppier tracks on the album, but a bit of an edge with the distortion of the guitar makes it unlike the other poppy tracks of the album. Lyrically, its the best on the album. Its about Santa Claus gone crazy. Pretty funny, and again the horrorpunk lyrics manifest themselves more clearly than on other tracks. The next song, The Corpse Grinders, is another one of the few without a poppy chorus. It starts off with a classic punkish riff that soundes to me something that would fit in perfectly on a Johnny Thunders album. The vocals, however, would not fit in on a Johnny Thunders album. They are the most intense of the whole album. The next song is Tura. Its another poppy track, and nothing about it musically stands out from the rest of the album, but the lyrics are brilliant. Who but The Browns would use lyrics like "Tura, you're my kind of girla"?
The next song, House of Whipchord, is very cool. It starts off with a quiet intro, Then builds into a louder variation of the intro. From there, its on to intense vocals similar to those on The Corpse Grinders. Then ot goes on to a poppy chorus then back to yhe intense verse. Last but not least, The final track, Last House on the Left, will always have a special place in my heart because it is based on one of my favorite films of all time, which is also titled The Last House on the Left. Its not unlike the rest of the album but it's still a cohesive track and is very catchy.
A negative point about the album is that the tracks are all painfully short. The shortest is House of Whipchord, clocking in at only 1:08. The longest is Last House on the Left, clocking in at 16:09, but only because of a hidden track, a live version of the same song, is at the end.
I truly believe that all fans of punk music, be it pop punk, horrorpunk, or just plain punk will enjuy this album. If you're not a fan of pop punk don't let that discourage you from giving this a listen. I myself am not a fan of pop punk but I positively love The Browns. If you've heard American Werewolf in Calgary and didn't like it, don't let that discourage you either, as its the worst of the album.
The Browns' Greatest Hits Voulme One is one of my favorite albums that I own.
4.5/5
