One-time glam contenders SHOTGUN MESSIAH are back with a technologically tampered, post-industrial metal assault. It's Terminator-tastic, sez mark Day... But do they mean it, man?

Once upon a time, there was a cartoonishly glammy rock band from Sweden called Kingpin, with a debut album much revered by the kind of rock elitists for whom the phrase "only available on import" remains a badge of quality rather than an indication that none of the domestic labels wanted to know.
Kingpin went to America, changed their name to Shotgun Messiah, and, in time honored fashion, toughened up their look and their sound a little. The debut album was re-issued (under the eponymous 'Shotgun Messiah' banner). A harder yet still commercial sequel, 'Second Coming', followed.

Boasting a striking rock-icon-in-waiting in the shape of bassist turned vocalist Tim Skold, Shotgun Messiah should have been reasonable contenders for 1991's post-GN'R metal mainstream. But neither widdly-guitarist imprint Relativity (with whom they're signed in the States) nor heaviness-haven Roadrunner (who handle their European affairs) managed to make much headway with them.

Shotgun Messiah were fast spotted getting back to basics (wasn't everyone in 1992?) with an EP of garage-punk covers, pledging allegiance to the primitive punch of the Ramones, the Stooges and the New York Dolls...

And now? Slimmed down drastically to the duo of Skold on vocals/bass and Harry Cody on guitar, Shotgun Messiah have customized the familiar heavy rock chassis with an industrial refit, and manufactured 'Violent New Breed'; from the Stooges to samplers in just less than a year. Short of putting Trent Reznor in the same studio as Mötley Crüe. 'Violent New Breed' comes closest to creating a megabyte-metal sound that the average long-hair in a Skid Row T-shirt and too tight trousers can shake his head to.

The critics have so far been kind - in a lot of ways, someone had to make an album like this. But a little skepticism is unavoidable. After all, in Kingpin, Skold and Cody were bouncing around like Sesame Street glamsters and bidding you "Welcome To Bop City".

"First of all, we used to be a traditional four-piece rock band and that's what we sounded like. That's what we were." considers Tim Skold with a dry laugh. "But that's gone now, so we can do whatever the fuck we want. It's been very liberating."

Changing their name might have spared the band some of the inevitable cynicism.
"We juggled with the idea for a while" he admits "But we came to the conclusion that Shotgun Messiah's what we do. Changing our name would be like trying to excuse the past, and we have nothing to excuse. It's our past, so fuckin' what? I think bands should progress."

Fair 'nuff. So where would he like to find 'Violent New Breed' filed in his local record store - on the metal racks, or rubbing shoulders with Nine Inch nails et al?

"I'd like it filed under 'Cool Shit' or 'Quality Stuff', but those files don't exists! We don't think in those labeling terms. I don't think we're an 'industrial' band. We used a lot of those production values and ideas, but we still have very traditional rock songs."

One thing that lends credence to their claims of authentic alienation is the fact that Shotgun Messiah have been outsiders every step of the way. Never quite part of the LA rock scene, kooky Scandinavians signed to the 'wrong' labels, but still somehow surviving.

Says Skold: "We're a little band on a little label. But most of the bands who got signed to bigger labels around the same time as us are all dropped. We're still signed and able to do what we do, and that's the goal - not having a yacht and a Porsche."

He says the only reason the band live in LA is to be near the their record label and save on phone bills. Anyway, all the majors' A&R men are down in San Diego looking for the new Stone Temple Pilots (yolks! -Ed.). But he and Cody decamped back to Sweden to record 'Violent New Breed' without any outside interference:
"There was no one dropping in to give their two cents worth every day. We made the album we wanted to hear, the album we wanted at home on the stereo. It's an ego trip for us."

So squash your cynicism (I think I can) and enjoy. This time these schizophrenic Swedes have hit the (Nine Inch) nail on the head (bangers).