Originally a band that could have been labelled harshly by some as a side-project for Daniel Haniß – harking from the lofty successes of Electric Callboy, Samurai Pizza Cats follow their earlier successful debut album in You’re Hellcome – to further establish themselves as a unique band quite separate from its members’ previous accomplishments in the industry.
Blending a sound that glides between metalcore and deathcore with electronic elements that are now firm staples in this bands sonic character, Samurai Pizza Cats once again bring an incredible amount of energy to their music – resulting in an album that is simply great fun to listen to. While Press Start’s nostalgic video game aesthetics, and humorous subject matter certainly won’t set a cat amongst the pigeons in terms of any musical revolutions, this is obviously not the intention with this album. Press Start brings an incredibly charming willingness to have fun and not take themselves too seriously (which is often lacking in today’s industry), and pairs it with some greatly talented musicians to create a number of genuinely fantastic tracks that go beyond where one might assume their surface level jokes could take them.
Incorporating electronic elements into metal can sometimes be quite difficult in terms of fit, especially when going for such a polished sound as Press Start is with the old school video game vibes. However, the entire album is honestly immaculate in terms of production. The result is a record that blends the severely powerful vocals of Sebastian Fischer, with a barrage of immensely catchy melodies and typically heavy guitar riffs in a way that perfectly bounces off the vibrant electronic ear candy infused into every track.
This album is definitely at its best when it leans into the ‘sillyness’ of the band’s image. ‘Ramen-Man’, ‘T-Rex(plosion)’ and ‘Fear No Slice’ stand out in this regard as they fully dive into the unbeatable unseriousness of pizza, ramen and dinosaurs whilst delivering some truly fabulous songs certain to get you moving. On top of this, whilst the subject matter could become slightly stale by the end of the album, the features throughout the record elevate the entire sound to the next level – complimenting the band magnificently while keeping the album from becoming too samey on a full listen through.
As already discussed, Press Start is not going to be reinventing the music industry in the coming future; if you’re someone who needs deep meaning and profound messages in your music then this probably isn’t the record for you. However, not every band has to be out there revolutionising music, not every album has to be incredibly life changing – sometimes we just want surface level fun, and this album has that in spades (or rather, paddles) – so in that regard Press Start without a doubt succeeds in accomplishing the bands intentions. How far this approach can take them before they run out of unique ideas is anyone’s guess, but what isn’t guesswork is how much of a blast this album is to listen to. Samurai Pizza Cats make you want to party, and sometimes that’s all you need.