Moon Rats “Highway Lord” 2017/2018, test pressing so fresh that I had to put a Moon Rats sticker on the blank white record label (the cassette of Highway Lord – on Gloss Records – came out last June, the official press vinyl version anticipated release is later this summer). We made a good-faith effort to see Milwaukee’s Moon Rats Sunday night at the Cooperage but didn’t get to see them play (the bands were running behind schedule and early morning work sometimes = no late-night fun). The guys had a moment at the bar before the show, enough for me to snap a quick picture before I had to leave. (I think each Moon Rats’ choice of hand positions sums their individual personalities up nicely.)

Though we missed last night’s show, we did see them this past February at Company Brewing (along with Static Eyes and Brother O’Brother) so I know what a fierce, face-melting performance they put on (below, pictures from that  show of singer/guitarist Al Kramer and bassist Myles Coyne, one in which Coyne is literally melting his own face off).

Highway Lord is heavy heavy psych, richly stewed with metal-fuzzed guitar and dark hypnotic stoner rock: i.e. Black Angels and AC/DC got together, did a few shots to them amp up (Black Angels), and smoked a shit-ton of weed to mellow them out (AC/DC), and then threw on a laser-light show. A couple of the guys in Moon Rats are also in Calliope (a couple are also in other Milwaukee bands like Sonic J, The Rashita Joneses and Mouse Corn) and my friend Veronica described Moon Rats as “What if Calliope was having a really rough week and decided to take it out on their instruments?…every single song [is] delivered like it is the last song they’ll ever play so they better beat the bejeezus out of it.” They are intense. My favorite tracks from Highway Lord are: the slow-building, richly layered “Become the Smoke,”  the out-Black-Sabbathing Black Sabbath vibe on “Overdose,” the hauntingly sparse-dense-sparse tension of “The Hunter,” the desolate highway lament on “Motor Sword” and the beautiful chaos of the title track “Highway Lord.” You can listen to the entire album here or buy the digital album here or, better yet, catch them at their next show and get a tape or vinyl record.