Jeff Walker Und Die Fluffers

I can’t say with any sort of honesty that I thought an album like this would ever come from Carcass frontman Jeff Walker. Along with a backing band that reads like a who’s who list in the world of metal, including other members of Carcass, and help from members of Napalm Death and Faith No More, Walker and his gang of misfits do their best to cover classics from Johnny Cash, John Denver, Hank Williams, and Kenny Rogers.

Essentially a punk rock cover album with some really heavy folk and country overtones, Welcome to Carcass Cuntry serves as notice to the music world that Walker is more than lyrics about medical mutations and vocals that could simultaneously peel the paint off a wall or cause a house to collapse.

What Walker shows on this album of covers, remarkably, is a bit of soul. Perfectly content with the fact that his voice will never stir emotions like the late man in black, and content with the fact that he won’t be able to tell a story with just his voice like the gambler, he plays off his strengths. And what’s more, he never tries to exceed those. His gravely, even menacing delivery on Cash’s classic “The Man Comes Around” strangely enough fits. The addition of electric guitar and a hell of a lot of grit gives a spin to the song that I’d have personally not expected. And that’s what Walker and his cohorts do all throughout the 40 minutes of punk and metal-infused country pride. They put their spin on, while respecting the original incarnations, and more times than not it works in a way that most would be surprised to hear.

A heavy, mid-paced chug leads a parade of distortion into a Neil Young stand-by with “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World,” and once again, it works. Walker’s intangible vocal qualities just draw you in to this new dark and dangerous version of the song, without losing the perfection that is the sing-along of the chorus. The guitar solo at the end only serves to sweeten the deal of this update on a classic, and it’s also a perfect way to end a record that was full of surprises.

I was pretty skeptical upon first reading about this, but Jeff Walker and his band have shown over the course of 11 classics that they’ve got plenty of diversity to go along with the pre-evident talent. The backing musicians adhere extremely well to the style of the covers they’re playing, and Walker himself is the star of the show, bringing some grit and vitriol to songs that weren’t known for it. To this I say -- well done sir, well done indeed.