Or
LIONS CARE RECORDINGS CHRONICLES THE THEMES OF DARKNESS AND
DEEPENING DESPERATION OF NORTH EAST OHIO WITH SOUND (PART I)
Its all BATT LION's fault!
No sooner had I put in
Casual War, which I suppose was their
'debut' release (I’m gonna 'Merican-out and NOT look it up-- just assume), than
Julie excitedly proclaims with a deep gasp leading "The dead cat! Its
Gone!!!"
She was right. It was gone... After a slow moving weather
system promising additional accumulation to our already substantial rainfall
totals for the Tri-State region (Ohio, Kentuckee, Indiana) had began dumping
its wetness, I stumbled out to retrieve the garbage cans... Sure enough...The
dead free-range cat that had set out for two days next to the curb after being
struck by a car, was moved. The spot, which is a weird area that has seen
multiple road kills and is clearly (for whatever unknown reason) a danger zone
of sorts for creatures crossing the busy four-lane road. The dead cat was
gone... Moved... Now the creature was about 20ft away from the area it had set
for two days, it was now on the driveway. I settled on the commitment of maybe
getting a shovel the next day and shoveling the carcass back into the road.
Julie and I had no logical explanation how the dead cat could have gotten to
the new location on our driveway... It was a mystery that was ultimately
replaced by the second mystery of where it went. It was completely gone...
So... I blame BATT LION. Dark, mysterious, evil, magical
BATT LION…
Listening to Casual War I now understand how parents were
afraid of the imagery and mental fucked-ness of
Black Sabbath,
Alice
Cooper, or
Led Zeppelin,.
Listening to BATT LION you feel criminal. You feel like you are doing wrong. It
feels familiarly good. You are right where you should be... Walking upon a
scene in the autumn woods where moments before there appeared to be some sorts
of dark ritual. There’s blood. Lots of blood and recently extinguished candles
and remnants of a smoldering fire. The whole place smells like a concoction of
your hippie next-door neighbors house that always has incense burning. Strange
symbols are painted in white paint over surrounding trees and rocks. You don’t
notice the symbols, they look like scribble to you but you do notice the
clearing you have stumbled upon has a large pentagram at its base. If you try
you can proly catch up to whoever did this. You see signs of occupancy
including and multiple sets of footprints... You can find them and ask them
what they were doing, what it all means... But you decide not to. It doesn’t
matter anyway, cause looking up, you discover they returned. BATT LION is the
soundtrack.
Scratch that.
Casual War plays like the soundtrack of Naked Lunch the book
or the movie if it was either readable or watchable (nice try).
Casual War syncs up with Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory if you put the CD on
continuous loop when you hear the third lion roar in the movies opening credit,
even better than PINK FLOYDS
Dark Side of the Moon does with The Wizard of Oz.
Actually, the concept of Naked Lunch or even William Burroughs isn’t as worse
than the actual product itself. Conceptually Naked Lunch is amazing. Amazing
the way that
Casual War is amazing... Theatrical, dangerous, cryptic... Pure
Fuck Rocking. It’s all in this CD's available tracks. One twisting stab of the
dagger in your eye after another each time going deeper than before causing
irreversible life ending maximum damage. There is an air of seriousness to the
music’s pitch. Finding a broken bottle on the sidewalk outside a room that
calls itself a bar that had only two choices of beverage beer or whiskey, you
are convinced by the music that everything is dying. Each breath may be the
last... On
Casual War, BATT LION will make you believe that your heart isn’t
pumping blood, its pumping pure rage and its time to get go.
Casual War may not
be for you. Honestly, I’m not sure if you are ready. I'm not sure I want you
listening just yet. I’m not sure if you’re worthy or if you will ever be
worthy. Have you proved yourself? Do you think your ready? Will you willingly
allow yourself to be pushed over the edge with a promise that you will not die
when you hit the bottom? Do you believe in the fragile boundaries between this
and that? BATT LION strike with the viciousness and reality of FLIPPER with
slight pioneering IRON MAIDEN-ish metal leads mixed with AMERICA or GORDON
LIGHTFOOT leanings in soft rocks heyday. BATT LION is soft rock hard. BATT LION
are hard rock heavier. BATT LION are the answer to a question you not only are
afraid to ask, but a question you didn’t even know previously existed.
...
