‘Coffin Face’ is album number three from UK psychedelic garage punks Table Scraps and its one that comes hot on the heels of their track ‘Motorcycle (Straight To Hell)’ (from their debut album ‘More Time For Strangers’) having been brought to the attention of a potentially whole new audience by Monster Magnet’s excellent lockdown released covers album ‘A Better Dystopia’.

I mention this from the get go simply because whilst both bands might – on paper at least – seem worlds apart, when you do actually dip your toe into the acid-tinged waters of ‘Coffin Face’ musical genres do start to merge and ultimately become totally irrelevant.

I mean great music is great music, right?

The ten tracks that make up this record were written and recorded before, during and after the ongoing global pandemic and via the likes of ‘Judas Christ’, the overdriven Zeppelin throb of ‘Doom Generation’ and the B-Movie magic of ‘Never Liked It Anyway’ we are taken us back to a time when they were selling hippy wigs in Woolworths and the end of a whole musical ideology was but one tragic festival death away from becoming a reality.

Originally conceived as a (cough) “concept” album back in 2018, where a band emerges from the rubble of a post-apocalyptic event, the world events of the past 18 months made the songs that make up ‘Coffin Face’ less of a loosely themed concept and more a reality for the band, who this time around wanted to take themselves to a whole new level.

Adding third member TJ Mobbs on bass guitar, electric piano and synth certainly helped broaden their musical horizon around the time of their second album ‘Autonomy’, but here it’s the fantastic doubled vocals of drummer Poppy Twist and guitarist Scott Vincent Abbott that have never sounded so hypnotic, especially on the double time proto-punk rattle of opener ‘Threads’ (which surely must also take a lead from the 1984 post-apocalyptic TV drama of the same name). It’s when ‘Big Man’ steps out of the speakers sounding just like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have opened up an earthier Birmingham chapter that I can fully understand why the band say that recording Coffin Face’ has either kept them sane or sent them totally insane, such are the multiple musical personality changes being played out within the album’s half hour, which to their credit is something the band does without ever losing their focus on simply recording a great record.

Take ‘You Only Wanna Get High’ for example, this is a track that could have featured in a Matt Helm movie whilst ‘God Of The Rainbow’ has an almost second summer of love shoegaze vibe going on and then there’s the glorious swoon of album closer ‘Heartache’ which just makes me flip the record over and play it all again.

I’ve not stopped playing ‘Coffin Face’ since the slime coloured vinyl first dropped on my turntable a few days ago and I can see it staying there for some time yet, such is the strength of the songs on show here. For those who don’t like vinyl (shame on you) the album also comes on CD and download and is available in a variety of different bundle options via the band’s Bandcamp page.

Brothers and sisters, free your minds and give your aural taste buds a refresher in great music by simply clicking the link below. You can thank RPM later!

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Author: Johnny Hayward