Album Reviews : Spyder Baby – Let Us Prey

“Let Us Prey” is a tribute album to both Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. At least, that’s what you would think from listening to it. I usually don’t mind if a band sounds extremely close to another, hell I’m an Airbourne fan after all, but when a band tries and fails at reproducing another band then it’s more of an issue. Stevie Banch is the mastermind behind Spyder Baby, although I use the word ‘mastermind’ extremely lightly because I doubt there was much complicated thinking involved in making this album. Even the way he looks is incredible uncreative, if it wasn’t for the fact he had eyebrows then you would swear the promo photo was of Wednesday 13.

The creepy electronics and desperate screams in “Goodbye” are taken directly out of ‘Antichrist Superstar’ era Manson, as is much of the track directly after it, and “Bitter” is a less interesting ‘Little Horn’. Stevie decides to change a bit now and attempt being Rob Zombie instead. Everything in “Lips Of Red”, from the riffing to the classic-horror themes backing sounds, is taken off ‘The Sinister Urge’ while “We All Fall Down” goes a bit older, back to the days of White Zombie. There are a few tracks that don’t sound like blatant copies, but they aren’t anything to write home about. “Sex Action” is just plain boring, and “Bugs Crawl In” is a really simple, and also boring, punk track. The only track on the whole album that stood out to me is “The Worms”. It’s slow and doomy, largely based around a heavy drum beat and raspy, whispered vocals. The vocals in the chorus are bad, they’re nasally and just plain horrible, but the tune is somewhat catchy. There is a short, heavily distorted guitar solo in the middle which is fairly well done. I suppose the reason this track stands out is the fact it’s really the only one that is slightly different and a tad interesting.

It really doesn’t help that the album’s sound is absolutely terrible. Everything mixes together into a big mush of distorted sounds and most of the time it takes very careful listening to actually pick out an individual instrument. “Let Us Prey” is simply a mixture of tracks, stolen from other bands and butchered with a horrible mix, bad vocals and bloody boring writing. Avoid. 1.5/10

Band: Spyder Baby
Album: Let Us Prey
Year: 2008
Genre: Alternative/Horror Punk
Label: Blind Prophecy Records
Origin: Detroit, USA
www.myspace.com/spyderbaby

Track listing:
1. Rock Star
2. Bugs Crawl In
3. Goodbye
4. Days Go On
5. All The Hits
6. Bitter
7. Watch You Die
8. Lips Of Red
9. Sex Action
10. The Worms <- Reviewers choice
11. We All Fall Down
12. Sacred Heart
13. Raining When I Go
14. Kill The King