[.ca] Maggots: The Record

We'll laugh and sing while we chew on your bones!:
The "Maggots" album is, I think, the best piece of work the Plasmatics have ever done. It's a concept album that's heavily inspired by sci-fi movies and overlayers loud, nearly chaotic heavy metal with gore and bloodshed. I had actually purchased the album earlier this year, and both the narration of the story and the songs gave me the absolute chills. The story is about how mutant maggots went on a rampage (as a result of a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong), devouring the people of NYC, and increasing in size before finally eating every last living thing on the planet. Every song that's on the album paints an ominous picture of apocalyptic doom. I really don't have a favorite of all the 6 songs on here, but if I had to pick one, it would be "Brain Dead." What's unique about this album is the fact that it originally came out in the year 1987, the year when Poison, Motley Crue, and Guns N'Roses were in heavy rotation on MTV. Yet despite the year of the release, "Maggots" is so far ahead of its time that it may as well have come out in the new millenium. Right now in 2002, there are issues of cloning, terrorism and Armaggedon, and the Plasmatics have sung about that nearly 2 decades before. The Plasmatics will live forever!

Those now eating will soon be eaten:
I am a big fan of the Plasmatics' work and I personally feel that their albums are all severely underrated, including this one. What I really love about the Maggots LP is that unlike the band's past releases, this album possesses a real concept. In this case, Maggots tells the story of how a scientific experiment accidentally triggered an invasion of giant-sized maggots that carried an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Like a graphically gory Dr. Who recording, the CD features a narrator telling listeners how panicked New Yorkers are consumed one by one while unprepared for the situation. Only 6 tracks carry songs, and each one puts forward spontaneous drums and guitars with Wendy's furious shrieks and growls. Maggots came out originally in 1987, the year when heavy metal and grisly camp horror movies reached their peak. Now after the the September 11 attacks, followed by TV reports of pollution and bio-terrorism, the album now seems to have made predictions that are frighteningly real. The Plasmatics WILL live forever!

Should have been the soundtrack to an Evil Dead movie:
Wendy is missed terribly. 80's rockers will always remember her for her outrageous albums, insane concert performances (chainsawing a guitar, blowing up a car, getting naughty with a microphone) and as Charlie in her flick 'Reform School Girls'. This album sounds like it was thought out, recorded, and mixed all in one weekend in a garage. The whole album is so spontanious, that you would swear not even the band had a clue as to how it would turn out. Let's face it music like this just isn't made anymore. This set of tunes is fun, loud, and can't be taken seriously. Unlike today's mainstream garbage that MTV is shoving down the throats of America's Youth. I say long live the days of 80's hair, Headbanger's Ball, and horror flicks. Wendy will always have a place in our hearts for those who lived through those days. Wendy scared the hell out of all our girlfriends.

Sad but true:
I have all the Plasmatics albums and many of the EPs. They are my favorite band of all time. The Plasmatics were by far the most outrageous band of the last century and Wendy was one in a million. All the Plasmatics albums rock except this one. I am glad I have the Maggots CD just to add it to my collection but I never listen to it. I will admit some hardcore metal fans might like it. It is better than Twisted Sister and Poison but it is no Metal Priestess.

As far as concept records go . . . this is THE best.:
I bought this album on a whim when it first came out back in the 80's. The cover looked cool, I'd heard of the Plasmatics and liked heavy music. Little did I know I was buying what was to become one of my favorite albums of all time...ever! I can't even describe it. For those of you who are Maggots fans, you know exactly what I mean. For those of you who are considering this record: If you like B movies, terrible (yet hilarious) acting, good old fashioned punk rock that is well put together, VERY catchy and contains fantastic lyrics, you should buy this record!

• Introduction
• You're a Zombie
• White's Apartment
• Full-Meal Dinner
• Day of the Humans Is Gone
• Central Research Laboratory
• Valerie and Bruce on the Phone
• Destroyers
• White's Apartment/Bruce's Bedroom
• Brain Dead
• White's Apartment/Bruce's Bedroom
• Propagators