Psychostick - Revenge of the Vengeance

Rock Ridge Music, 2014

In their fourth studio album, IV: Revenge of the Vengeance, Psychostick continues to unapologetically weave facepalm-worthy masterpieces of metal in their sporadic style of thrashy hardcore. As expected, Rob "Rawrb" Kersey's lyrics are equal parts idiot and savant, presenting cleverly stupid characters and storylines throughout. There's an entire track of outtakes, for shit's sake. No matter what you choose to call this polarizing genre, "Comedy metal", "spoof rock", or "tardcore", Psychostick are undeniably at the top of it.

This time around, their off-kilter subject matter includes such absurdities as marrying your own beard, an unhealthy fear of ducks, an equally unhealthy (yet totally justifiable) obsession with Bruce Campbell, and a full-blown MMA brawl to the death over the final slice of pizza... And the last beer... And the last roll of toilet paper... And on and on.

Bill Manspeaker, the madman behind the original jokey metal band Green Jellÿ, makes an appearance on several tracks; most notably "NSFW". You want to know how amazing that song is? Here are the lyrics:

Fuck! (x300)
Ladies and gentleman,
Bill Manspeaker of Green Jellÿ!
Fuck! (x600)
Shit.

Revenge of the Vengeance culminates in "Dimensional Time Portal", the tale of a space-time rift accidentally opened by the band. The rift is a doorway used by an army of haunted panties, which force every women on Earth to lose their sex drive. Psychostick triumphantly defeats the invaders with the power of metal. Then there's sex for everyone!

Just kidding! Everyone gets nuked and dies.

Oh, and amongst all this delightful jackassery is a pretty sweet cover of "Danger Zone/Take My Breath Away".

Both brootal and stoopid, IV: Revenge of the Vengeance will have you simultaneously head banging and belly laughing. Stand-out tracks include "Obey the Beard", "So Heavy", "Dogs Like Socks", "NSFW", and "AWESOME". If you're into Green Jellÿ, Tenacious D, gang vocals about administering CPR, and Mr. Torgue from the Borderlands video games, this album was written for you. Grab a six-pack and enjoy, you primitive screwhead!