From hell they came, riding their monstrous motorcycles through the streets of Spurcity, bearing DTA, a hellish street drug capable of turning anyone who consumes it into a mindless zombie. Can nothing stop this filthy cult of madmen?
So goes the mythology, anyway. Never mind that the year this takes place (1982) is long past, the band’s name is the same as the alternate title of the infamous 1974 bikespoiltation flick Psychomania, and Spurcity looks suspiciously like Canada. Regardless, The Death Wheelers update the instrumental biker rock of David Allan & the Arrows for a more fucked-up generation, overlaying a coat of proto-punk and proto-metal filth on the core landlocked surf rock sound. “Murder Machines” soaks itself in sleazy wah-wah, dirty slide guitar, and choogling boogie, while the title track interprets garage rock as just a step or two away from thrash metal. The quartet dives right into the Dick Dale end of the pool by covering the master’s “Nitrus,” adding hard rock flash to what was once good clean fun. Alongside the B-movie horror and biker flick samples scattered throughout, the psychedelic trash of “Ditchfinder General” represents the general mindset here: casually grungy, good-naturedly sleazy, and, most of all, fiendishly rocking.
