Koffin Kats - Our Way & The Highway (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Koffin Kats

Our Way & The Highway (2012)

Sailor's Grave


The Motor City, Mich. three-piece known as the Koffin Kats is back with another set of horror and booze-fueled psychobilly ditties the wreckers are sure to dig. For the most part, it's what you'd expect from the band based on its previous efforts, despite a slightly different lineup.

Joining the impressive roster Sailor's Grave has built over the years, the Koffin Kats are right at home alongside psycho acts like Stitch Hopeless and the Sea Legs and Mad Sin. But while they may be newcomers to the label, with six albums already under their belts, they've virtually achieved veteran status in the psychobilly scene since releasing their first effort in 2003.

Though the first few seconds of Our Way & the Highway sound like the beginning of a Gregorian chant album, "Riding High" soon kicks in with the trademark bass thumps and frenetic rhythms expected of the genre. Following along the same thematic lines of its predecessor and the album is the record's catchiest number, "The Way of the Road."

There's plenty of liquor-love anthems, starting with "It Happens Every Night" and extending to "BOOZINCROSSANATION" alongside "The Bottle Called," which appears to serve as more of a cautionary tale. There's also a smattering of the requisite B-movie horror tunes in "The Devil Asked" and "Locket of Sin," with its curious marching band rhythm and vocals that fall somewhere between Glenn Danzig and Luciano Pavarotti.

No, the Koffin Kats don't cover a ton of new ground, but as the title suggests, they do still cover of lot of ground. And with a healthy blend of high energy rock ‘n' roll, punk and rockabilly, the Koffin Kats' streak of consistent albums rolls on.