Two things in the rockabilly universe are disappointingly rare. These are, firstly, purely female collectives, and secondly, the BRICS countries. Today we will kill two birds with one stone and listen to the compatriots of beautiful Key Alves, psychobilly trio of hot Brazilian girls – As Diabatz!
The history of the group began in 2006, in the city of Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. Three charming psycho-women in their wildness decided to play an authentic old-school psychobilly, sounding reminiscent of Guana Batz and Batmobile. The theme of bats is revealed as much as possible. By the way, the name of the band As Diabatz has nothing to do with diabetes. This is an untranslatable play on English and Portuguese words, roughly translated as “Dancing devils and bats.”
Among the personalities of these damn mice, it is worth highlighting Carolina Salmaso a.k.a. Rebel Baby. She is a very versatile girl. In this team, she is in the role of a guitar frontwoman, and besides, she lit up in the Mystery Trio rockabilly formation on, suddenly, a pedal-steel guitar. And she is also the designer of one of The Rusty Robots albums. Yes, the globe is very small in a certain sense.
The rhythm section also consists of no less fighting young ladies: Claudia Smith a.k.a. Killer Klaw on the counter and Claudia “Sweet Zombie” Marquez on drums. Caroline probably often makes wishes. In general, this is a great example of real female friendship, since the composition has never changed. However, the discography is quite compact: there are only two full-length albums and two shorties in it.
Witches Stomp (2007)
The debut demo EP is quite listenable for fans of low-fi, and in general very cute. The girls at that time were still very young and these four songs are filled to the brim with the energy of a young life. Imagine: you are seventeen again, and you decided with your friends to put together a garage band. That’s about what the first work of As Diabatz sounds like.
As Diabatz – Witches Stomp
Listen online or download As Diabatz – Witches Stomp (2007) (mp3)
Riding Through the Devil’s Hill (2009)
Everything was already fine on the demo, all that remained was to add more tracks and a more solid recording quality. The debut full-length record is imbued with the spirit of old-fashioned psychosis, uncompromising, like a blow to the head with a blunt object. It can best be described as “party fuel” and/or “wreck material”. Everything here is very straight, danceable, and nothing will distract from the blowout smoke. If you have a desire to listen to psychobilly in context, then Riding Through the Devil’s Hill is an ideal option.
The opening record of Woman in White immediately hits the head with its three-chord irrepressibility. Necrolove adds a bit of sepulchral flirtatiousness to this pressure.
Psychomad Mary discards this flirtatiousness as unnecessary, again accelerating the fiery train to 88 miles per hour. Travel is a thing of the past, because it’s a thing from the demo. As well as the subsequent Wide Awake. This song allows you to successfully extinguish cigarette butts, for fire safety purposes.
The snide cat shuffle Under My Own Spell allows you to exhale a little. He has some kind of mysterious romantic flair. It’s like an altushka-m’mashnitsa is flirting with you. You can’t resist if you want to stay alive.
You expect something crazy from the title track of such a straightforward album, but expectations are the problems of the expectant. Because Riding Through the Devil’s Hill is a fairly measured instrumental.
This is followed by the opening of the previous release of Witches Stomp, literally boasting of its primitivism. Counting this, by the way, he is remembered almost the best of all.
We Ain’t No Psychobitches is in the same vein, but it’s more of a statement than a song.
Summertime Booze is the fourth guest from the previous release. The song is cheerful, like the third sip of beer under a summer barbecue.
The record ends with I Don’t Worry About It – another song-statement, this time shuffle-like. It has the potential for choral performance by a grateful crowd, but otherwise I would like something brighter for the finale.
Crazy Psychos 1st Degree (2012)
Listen online or download Crazy Psychos 1st Degree (2012) (2007) (37 Mb, mp3)
In the next album, the self-appointed first-class psychogirls added more variety. I would say that this is the most interesting work of the team in terms of all kinds of decorations.
The Undead Girl begins to juggle rhythmic structures with an enviable frequency. Most likely, this is the influence of a guest musician with the underground nickname Mutant Cox, which is from another Brazilian formation Hillbilly Rawhide.
Goodbye Julie also demonstrates significant compositional progress, but in a different way. The rhythm here is consistently simple, but there are a lot of small nuances in the form of all sorts of shouts and guitar tunes.
Out Of Sight is again stuffed with the influence of Mutant Cox. Chuck Harvey of Frantic Flintstones also had a hand in writing this song. What exactly the old Briton’s hand did will remain a mystery.
As Diabatz – Out Of Sight video:
Cannibal Girl (From Outer Space) is once again the fruit of collective creativity. The poems to it were written by someone Morto Ramone from the Mongolords group: real veterans of the Brazilian psychobilly.
She Forgot How To Pray is very similar to Goodbye Julie. There are literally all the same advantages. It’s as if the girls are taking the final exam at the Psycho Institute of South America, and the invited guests are respected professors.
This feeling is reinforced by the last track on the record: a cover of the legendary Batmobile – Bat Attack. The cover is very good, played as close as possible to the original, without unnecessary innovations. Did you want a Batmobile with female vocals? Well, this is it.
It is worth noting that the physical vinyl release of this album is an ultimate artifact for fans of the band, because the CD version of the previous full-length album is included in the package. Thus, the happy owners of the record received everything that was created by the girly trio.
Nightmares in Red (2018)
Born six long years later, the new full-length album included all the achievements of previous records.The old-school straightforwardness of the debut album has not gone away, but the tracks have become much more saturated with small details, as on Crazy Psychos 1st Degree.
The opening title track Nightmares in Red already impresses with a sudden rhythmic leapfrog. If the sound of the guitar would have been a little more expressive, it would have been an absolute hit.
You Go On – wreck fuel again with a very high fire hazard class. Full-Tilt Boogie, in general, is also fuel for carnage, but finally a catchy hook in the form of a vocal leap has been added to the chorus, and it is thanks to this little thing that the song is remembered.
But Cabin In The Woods is a real banger. Flirting with a horror theme sounds fresh here, because the theme itself does not refer to Frankenstein and Dracula, but to a slightly more modern archetype. About as cool as a song about swamp mechanisms from SlapClaps.
But it’s not just about the theme. The song has a very pleasant harmony and a well-remembered minor vocal move at the end of the verses, and the form itself, devoid of choruses, sounds very advantageous. Sometimes it’s better to leave a song without a chorus at all, and Cabin In The Woods clearly demonstrates the legitimacy of this approach.
Sucri Song is a simple relaxing instrumental, a kind of interlude. Treat You Mean stands out with a good chorus, but the real value here is in the moments of the contrabass solo.
Dead Weight is curious primarily for its feminist message. We are not afraid, feminism is here in adequate meanings, rather about the heavy female lot, rather than about man-hating.
You‘re No Fun continues to carry the protest charge of the previous composition, adding melancholic notes to the melody.
Death Lurks on The Race Track is another instrumental, pleasant and not intrusive. And what a fervent quote from the funeral march!
The album concludes with a very psychobilly cover of the Ramones: Havana Affair.
Unfortunately, radio silence occurs at this stage. There have been no new releases for almost a decade, and I just modestly hope that three hot South American women will return again with their dietary psycho carnival of devils and bats. Colors in life are not superfluous.
