Album Review: P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Death, Rat Scabies

Following hot on the heels of his erstwhile band’s recent release, ex-Damned drummer Rat Scabies has taken more of a pottering-about-in-the-garden-shed approach. Of the 12 tracks on P.H.D, eight are instrumentals, giving the record a sketchy, half-baked feel. Like a pavlova-a-la-rat.

Generally, this feels a bit like taking a shuffle through Rat’s record collection. We get some Status Quo barroom-noodling on ‘Un Nouveau Balai (A New Broom)’; psychedelic stylings on ‘Shivers’; an acid trip recounted over some dub reggae on ‘Floating’; and even a bit of stripped down swing-jazz on a cover of Louis Prima’s ‘Sing Sing Sing’.

It’s a lot more interesting when there’s vocals, with Jesse Budd of Flipron doing his best Robyn Hitchcock impression on ‘Dazy Bones’. ‘Chew On You’ borrows and bends the riff from ‘Spirit In The Sky’, and adds a bit of slide and some attitude, in a tasty slice of rough and ready boogie.

It’s on ‘Rat’s Opus’ that the sat-nav is ripped out and chucked through the window. I’m not sure who sings this track, but if it’s Rat, he sounds possessed. It channels the edgelord pomp of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ into comically dramatic heights of absurdity. I’m not joking. Just like the proverbial curate’s egg, parts of this are excellent.

Rating: 5/10