Mephiskapheles – “Maximum Perversion” – 1997 Moon Ska Records - There are albums that came out at pivotal times in your life that, on top of being great, hold such sentimental value that they always take you back to that time and mindset. I thought of that as I drove into work this morning and Less Than Jake’s “Automatic” came on my ipod. As you all know that’s on their album, “Losing Streak”, arguably their greatest. Listening to that album always takes me back to my teens in the mid to late 90’s when I first saw them headline Ska Against Racism at Montclair University and when I won my cassette copy of that album on one of the wheel games down at Seadside and then played it incessantly in whatever boom box, walkman or car stereo I had access to. But everybody already knows that album rules and doesn’t need me to tell them so. As luck would have it though my ipod seemed to sense I was wistful for the 3rd wave ska explosion and the next track was “Introduction To The Yellow Passion” from Mephiskapheles’ underrated 2nd album “Maximum Perversion”. Despite this album coming out at the same time as many of the other benchmarks of the genre it somehow seemed to slip through the cracks for most people, myself included. I actually purchased this album almost a decade after its release. I did however have several compilations (a lost concept- it seems nobody’s putting out good cheap comps like they used to) that had tracks from this album on it. All of those comps are also worth owning, but for now I’m gonna stick with talking about actual albums. Mephiskapheles for the most part were geniuses in the sense that they knew people would enjoy them most in smaller dosages, so they just gave submitted songs to comps like crazy which is how most of us learned about them. That and satanic imagery is always fun for teens trying to be rebellious. Their first album that more people are familiar with, “God Bless Satan” really milks the latter whereas “Maximum Perversion” is more about “okay you know what our gimmick is, and we’re happy you dig it, but check out our musicianship cuz we’re all really awesome at what we do”. Don’t worry they knew what their bread and butter was and still have a couple tracks on there that give props to the Prince Of Darkness. But my personal favorites “Attack Of The Geniuses”, “Bad Toupee” and “Break Your Ankle Punk” don’t seem to be about religion or really much of anything in particular other than showcasing incredible horn and rhythm sections. Seriously there’s a lot going on in ska and drummers typically fade into the woodwork, but this guy makes you take notice. Check this album out you’ll be glad you did. You can most likely find it on Half.com for less than $5 with shipping. What have you really got to lose? (with the possible exception of your soul) SCRUFF
