Okay, so y’all already know Oakland’s rockers the Fleshies go nuts onstage, breaking stuff and burning things, and you probably know that the singer likes to get naked and hurt himself Iggy-style. You also might know Dead Kennedy main man Jello Biafra enjoyed their live set so much that he signed them to Alternative Tentacles, releasing the excellent Kill the Dreamers’ Dream last year. But bet you did not know about their undying love for the international sport of futbol.
The Game of Futbol, the band’s latest EP, opens with two soccer-focused songs, each with very opposing takes. “Fists of Mercy” has a speedy, infectious call-to-arms feel, but the title track will make you wonder if you’re listening to the same band. Its slow, melancholy, and decidedly un-Fleshies sound is punctuated with high-pitched, desperate coos. What’s the band bemoaning? What else, a futbol game.
The remaining tracks are personal anthems from each band member, sticking close to the band’s high-energy, screeching approach while at the same time declaring the love they hold for, well, themselves. Riding on dirty metal riffs and throaty, in-your-face shrieks, “Bon Bons” is the bassist’s track. “Johnny Shenanigans,” frontman Johnny Pseudonym’s song, starts out droning then breaks into a speedy fit of mean guitar lines. Guitarist Mattowar’s track, “The Sexiest Man Alive,” is led by nasal speak-singing from the whole group and is the funniest — the title says it all. The drummer’s “The Tickler” closes the EP with a coming-to-get-you guitar line and badass screaming.
