Shotgun Messiah started out in life known as Kingpin in
their Swedish homeland and their CD Welcome To Bop City from 1988 gained
them a great following and fanbase there.
They opted to shift their operations to the late 80’s glam scene of
Comprising of members Zimmy J. San on vocal, Tim Tim Skold
handling bass guitar, the aptly named Stixx Galore drumming and the guitar
stylings of Harry K. Cody the band pushed out three CD’s in their career, all
with distinctly different musical styles.
Their recordings were met with varying receptions by fans and critics
and I have seen them referred to as “Bandwagon Messiah” as they changed their
sound to follow the musical trends.
The self titled debut was the most successful, placing at
#99 on the Bilboard Chart and hit in 1989.
The pop flavoured
Does anyone else hear The Beastie Boys here?
Vocalist Zimmy J. San parted company allowing Tim Tim Skold
to lay aside the bass and step into the front man role, leaving newcomer Bobby
Lycon to fill in the void bass shoes.
The next release, Second Coming, had a more sleaze rock sound and
reached a commercially disappointing #199 according to Bilboard even though it
spawned the rock radio hit and arguably best known tune
1993 saw the final output from Shotgun, Violent New Breed. Only Skold and Cody remained in the band by this point. They completed this record using synthesisers and it has a distinct industrial
metal sound ala Ministry. Good driving
tunes or break stuff music, this album moves along well, but it was largely ignored by the record buying public. The opener I'm A Gun sets the tone and doesn't let up from start to finish showing how far ahead of it's time this album was. For me Jihad is the stand-out or best track on the disc. This industrial style is a prelude to the next few years of Tim Skold's career as showcased in fellow Decibel Geek Cameron Cooper's article:
See you on Heartbreak Blvd.
Cheers,
The Meister


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