Scumfucks - Scumfucks (Sliptrick Records)

“We Are The Scumfucks and we’re badass to the bone!”

So say Greek grebos The Scumfucks. A quartet who are, by their own admission, forty nine per cent scum and fifty one per cent fuck, they also have a serious Motörhead obsession.

No, really. One that might require the attention of a psychologist to get to the root of the problem. This is more than admiration – it’s forensic addiction.

The good thing is, although on the surface they might as well be a tribute act, this band actually understands what it was that made Lemmy Kilmister and company so alluring – they know how to swing. The Haunt and Intruder, for instance, positively leak the stuff out of every pore, oozing rock n’roll assurance and swagger. So whilst occasionally the whole thing falls flat on it’s face – not all the songs here would even have made it as What’s Words Worth b-sides – what you have here at it’s best is one of the best ‘head-tinged efforts you’ll ever hear.

Dim Gkavis has the Murder One sound all rapped up, and his spidery style wraps itself around Sak‘s drums beautifully. As noted, this is a band with swing, and Sak is the man responsible or powering everything forward with bags of the stuff. Mikkey who?

Whoever plays lead – it’s either Jim Sermon or vocalist Goulthor, and my money’s on Jim – has also spent a lot of time analysing the work of Fast Eddie Clarke. It was time well spent, let me tell you, as the solos on this album would have had Ed welling up with pride. They really are that good, with not a note wasted and every string bend placed for maximum effect.

Increased Chances is the best track here – and, strangely, it’s a cover, not by Motörhead but by obscure American act Chitlins, Whiskey & Skirt. Whoever wrote it, is a bostin’ piece of rock n’roll that’s certainly worth the name.

So, where you stand on The Scumfucks (great name by the way) will be predicated entirely by where you stand on Motörhead – and everybody loves them, right?