Teenage Time Killers
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
Release Date: Jul 31, 2015
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Heavy Metal, Sludge Metal, Punk Metal
Record label: Rise Records
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Album Review: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 by Teenage Time Killers
Fairly Good, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
The debut studio long player from the powerhouse punk-metal supergroup led by My Ruin guitarist Mick Murphy, Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin, and producer John Lousteau, the cheekily named Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is both a refreshing blast from the past and an ardent kick in the teeth. A workmanlike distillation of punk, thrash, and hardcore's skull ring-, concert T-shirt-, and combat boot-laden heyday invokes everyone from Suicidal Tendencies and Minor Threat to G.B.H.
Based on rating B
A supergroup is a strange delicacy of rearranged genres and acquired tastes, musical hybrids where shit often hits the fan. With built-in followers from all walks of life, supergroups are in theory wise, in practice hit or miss, and in general rarely boring. It’s from this perspective that we ask: Where in the hell does Dave Grohl find the time and energy for any supergroup, much less Teenage Time Killers? The “nicest man in rock” helms electric bass on about half of the delightfully sludgy songs on a guest-heavy, hardcore romp that had the gall to title its debut LP a greatest hits compilation.
Based on rating 3/5
Before they made major waves with Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear shook up the underground as members of hardcore bands Scream and the Germs, respectively. They dive back into the CBGB-matinee mosh pit with Teenage Time Killers, a new all-star project including current or former singers from Slipknot, Lamb of God, Dead Kennedys and Fear. Though Grohl (who played bass and lent his 606 Studios to the cause) and cohorts are far from their teenage years, Greatest Hits Vol.
Based on rating 3/5
The Avengers Assemble of US hardcore supergroups, Teenage Time Killers are a 29-strong collective of gnarly goblin types ranging from the famous-in-their-local-gothpit (members of Blatant Disarray, Eyehategod, Sacred Reich, etc) to major scene icons (Nick Oliveri, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra) to DaveGrohl-level superstars (Dave Grohl). Needless to say, this is 45 minutes of Satanism, anti-capitalism, rebel protest, warfare and gore in which every form of sludge/speed/death/pop/goth/punk/armadillo metal is flung onto an increasingly gooey and formless pile, like a torture chamber’s heap of discarded body parts. Consider it a Download megamix.
Based on rating 4.0/10
Congratulations are in order for Teenage Time Killers, the massive, metallic brainchild of Corrosion of Conformity's Reed Mullin and My Ruin guitarist Mick Murphy: with the arrival of their long-gestating debut LP, the duo may have very well set a Guinness World Record for the biggest supergroup ever (excepting, of course, one-offs like USA for Africa and Artists for Haiti). Three years ago, they set out on a mammoth mission to recruit their friends, contemporaries and tour-mates and forge The One Punk Album To Rule Them All. Of course Dave Grohl signed up; from Them Crooked Vultures to Sound City Players, the Foos frontman's got a veritable addiction to side projects.
Opinion: Excellent
Teenage Time Killers began with Corrosion Of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin and My Ruin guitarist Mick Murphy wanting to make a back-to-basics hardcore record. That the result is a 20-track album—featuring appearances by an almost ridiculously impressive array of rock, metal and punk luminaries—suggests that this idea was contagious. Scuzzy and simple (and with a little stoner and doom in the mix), the record crackles with energy, every song raising a smile.
'Greatest Hits, Vol. 1'
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