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This is an album that could have been more than it was. Road
Trip to Oblivion is a companion piece to Kent Messer's
novel of the same name. Incidentally, Messer is also one of the
members of Abattoir 3000. In the words of Messer himself,
"The Rocket's Red Glare (the original name for the
novel) doesn't have anything to do with international terrorism.
It is about growing up in the cold war era. It's about the music.
It's a road trip through the life of a young artist and the friend
he couldn't forget." Um. Sure. The book might be about that,
but the sound of the album has a more post-apocalyptic feel to
it, particularly in regard to the first track which seems to have
a drunk or dying president (Reagan, presumably) pressing the button
on his way down or out. "Country Road" is a gruesome
and comically disturbing tale of survival necessity overtaking
friendship, and is arguably the darkest piece of the set, particularly
since it is happily set to a pretty standard country tune. Another
track details a deranged father berating his dead son for leaving
his room a mess, and inconsiderately neglecting to remove his
own dead body from the house. ("Why Do Dead Children")
Other tracks reflecting the disintegration of the family unit
("Wildly Unsuccessful Lives") and the indulgence of
excess ("Kirkagard") ring clear as hallmarks of the
'80s, but as a concept, the album seems to be simultaneously showing
things as they were, and as they could have been if there had
been a nuclear apocalypse. I'm not certain if this is accidental
or intentional, nor can I really say if it is successful or not
in this regard. I suppose it could be viewed either way since
no specific reference to a nuclear attack is directly made, but
enough imagery is presented for me to infer it.
But, on to the rest… Musically, the album is varied in its
presentation. It draws from numerous genres for its tracks, and
presents them serviceably, if unimaginatively. The sound production
is rather lacking, and the vocalist isn't really good enough to
sing within all of the respective musical paradigms used. Sometimes,
he sounds dead on, and in others he is really searching. Another,
or a different, vocalist could seriously have helped, and a wider
range (or better quality) of synthesized instrumentation would
have, too. In short, this album needed a good producer and some
money thrown at it.
Road Trip to Oblivion has enough of a demo tape feel to
it, that it makes me assert that this is not really a finished
product. If you're going to lampoon the '80s, you have to adhere
to the same affectation of over or under-production. Remember,
EVERYTHING was done to excess. Punk was exceptionally low budget
and stripped-down, country was really dreary, metal was ultra-fast
and hard, and prog-rock was an exercise in perfectionism and no-holds-barred
expense. The songwriting and execution on this album is right
where it needs to be, but everything else basically needs a rework.
The website has rumored that there is a movie deal in the works
for Road Trip to Oblivion, so perhaps they will release
a movie soundtrack as well that will hopefully correct the aforementioned
problems.
-JD
Track Listing:
1. Road Trip to Oblivion
2. Do You Remember
3. Kirkagard
4. Despair and Departure
5. Country Road
6. Tipper
7. Paranoia
8. Why do Dead Children
9. She Bitch
10. Wildly Unsuccessful Lives
11. Happily Ever After
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