Leningrad Cowboys – Buena Vodka Social Club (2012)

Featuring 13 crazy Finish musicians, today we have the very enigmatic and cult-worshiped Leningrad Cowboys and their first album with original songs since 2000. In “Buena Vodka Social Club” we are treated to 11 tracks of pure wackiness, but with excellent musical skills and a very festive spirit.

While nowhere near the area of expertise of Infernal Masquerade reviewers, we still managed to appreciate and enjoy this very interesting release. Sakke Järvenpää, the band’s mastermind, has managed to bring back the Leningrad Cowboys and with such style and grace that you should keep an eye for them once they come close to your town.

Opening with crazy vocals on “Machine Gun Blues”, the wind instruments immediately make their way and the whole party vibe lets loose. The mixture of instruments and the vocal melodies are very well crafted and make for a very catchy song. Deeper into the ’party mode’, “All We Need is Love” and “Drill-A-Hole” make their way with their catchy chorus lines. “Gimme Your Sushi” makes the band sound like something our of Grease mixed with some Beach Boys, and we cannot stop imagining this song being performed by Val Kilmer in his Top Secret days, due to the funny lyrics.

With Spanish/Mexican Guitars mixed with a SKA edge we have “I Kill the Dog” showing yet another angle of this multi-faceted band. Blending the Spanish/Mexican Guitar sections with some Mexican traditional music influences we have “Gasolina”, a song we expected to be a cover of the terrible Reggaeton anthem, but instead turned out very funny and mellow.

The album title track delivers a very interesting power ballad, similar to something that Poison would have belted out in the 90’s. This track feels a bit out of place, but then again, it’s the Leningrad Cowboys we are talking about here. If Kill Bill was set in a Mexican Spaghetti-Western mood, “Frijoles y Lager” should be the perfect theme song for this movie. Closing the album we have our favorite track “Mule”, a truly emotional piece that features traditional clean guitars and very dramatic vocals. 

While hard to describe and pin-down, “Buena Vodka Social Club” is a very engaging and appealing release. Metal fans would probably not find much value in this release, but if you like different music and don’t mind a complete 180 degree turn from your typical release; you will find many interesting songs in this album. The Leningrad Cowboys are back and they are here to stay, so get on the bandwagon before it's too late.

Release: January 17th, 2012

Country: Finland