The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing manage to pull off two major coups on their debut CD:
they're funny with out *being* a joke and they put actual punk rock into steampunk.
The comedic shtick here is that the band is comprised of actual Victorian gentlemen, with all their conceits, prejudices and jingoism, having their hand at the punk rock.
They'd fail miserably if they were just doing a piss-take on steampunk, but the band clearly loves what they're doing and has a sincere interest in the material under all the humor.
(Only once does the band drop the act: on the slam-pit worthy, empire indicting "Blood Red". But this interlude only reinforces the humor of the other songs by pointing out that this *is* comedy.)
And they are funny! "Steph(v)son" is successful as both a comedy bit and as a brief lesson in Victorian history, "A Traditional Gentlemens Boasting Song" works because it builds on the chauvinism implied by the title and takes it to the foul-mouthed extremes that lurk in the characters heads.
What makes me happiest is that THEY KNOW FROM PUNK!
Too often I've encountered "funny" bands playing "punk" that's really just a half-assed/willfully ignorant take on heavy metal or garage rock. The four fellows that make up The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing are clearly well versed in punk rock and know that it's a snot fueled genre. And snottiness they have in spades. Thankfully they also have the musical chops to back up the humor.
My favorite tracks found here are "Steph(v)son", the gearhead-girl loving "Goggles" (a steampunk anthem if I ever hear one), the kick-in-the-teeth-story-telling tune "Boilerplate Daniel" and "Charlie" with it's vintage horrified reaction to the revolutionary concepts of Charles Darwin. *BUT* the key here is that there are no clunkers on "Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1" , no songs that make me cringe and skip. Well done.
