Artist: Mercury Radio Theater
Album: The Death and Life of the Undead Boy
Tracks: 23
Length: 31:37
Label: Angryson Records
Review By: Conrad
 
This record isn’t like anything you’ve listened to recently.  First off it’s all instrumental.  Before that turns you off, there are a three things going for this record. 

First off, it’s evil surf guitar rock.  Check.  It’s different. 

Second, it’s a concept album, telling a very well written story.  This is what they say about the story, “’The death and life of the undead boy’ tells the story of Victor the vampire boy and his adventures trying to cope with school, his home life and meeting girls.” 

And three… okay, so it’s instrumental but they have narration in between the songs, and get this, the narrarator is Joe Jack Talcum, from the greatest band ever, The Dead Milkmen. 

The story is very child-storybook style.  So there will be about a dozen narrarated rhymed lines progressing the story, then the accompanying song follows.  The music itself is very surf-rock based and mainly in minor key – which of course sounds right because it is about an undead boy. 

The booklet is basically a childrens’ storybook, illustrated by Joe Whiteford, lead singer of Calibretto. The booklet itself would make a great storybook for a preschool child, if you wanted that kid to turn out goth or something. Look at the artwork here - it's really good. 

So conceptually the album works.  The only downside is that the production. It’s really demo-y. I don’t want to harp on that too much, because I know they didn’t really have much of a budget, but the production is sloppy - sonically and performance wise.

So while some might see this band as a novelty, it’s not gimmicky because the concept and the music are solid.  If you’re looking something different, this album is worth checking out.  I'm giving the album a higher grade because this work is more than music - its art is musical, it is literary and and it is visual.