X-Cops - You Have The Right To Remain Silent
1995 Metal Blade

Track Listing:
1.  Interloper
2.  Barbells
3.  Cavity Search
4.  Zipper Pig
5.  Welcome To New Jersey
6.  Your Mother
7.  The Party's Over
8.  5-0
9.  Tune Up Time
10. Third Leg
11. Paddy Wagon Rape
12. Highway Star
13. You Fucked Up

Line-Up:
Vocals:  X-Sheriff "Tubb" Tucker, X-Mountain Bike Officer Biff Buff, X-Sgt. Zypygski
Guitars:  X-Sgt. Al DePantsia, X-Lt. Louis Scrapinetti
Bass:  X-Patrol Man Cobb Knobbler
Drums:  X-Cadet Billy Club
Samples:  X-Detective Phillip McRevis

Website:  www.gwar.net

Shev's Rating:  B+
Overall Rating:  B+

Also be sure to read:
GWAR - Scumdogs Of The Universe by Uncle Meat
GWAR - War Party by Shev
GWAR - You're All Worthless & Weak by Uncle Meat & Shev
Dave Brockie Experience - Diarrhea Of A Madman by Shev
Dave Brockie Experience - Songs For The Wrong by Shev

Shev's Review:
Living in the shadow of GWAR can't be an easy job.  Unfortunately for this GWAR side project, the job was short lived.  Keep in mind, it certainly wasn't for the lack of entertainment value.  Sure, there are no aliens hacking up bodies or songs about pants, but instead we're faced with members of GWAR in cop drag.  So just because you love/hate/could care less about GWAR, does that mean you're going to feel the same way about this?  The answer is "not a chance".

Instead of the wacky punk influenced metal notorious with GWAR's sound, this is more of a metal album laced with heavy amounts of hardcore punk.  Think of The Hellions vs. mid-90's GWAR for a better description.  The main fall back to "Right To Remain Silent" is the fact that just about every song on here is either hit or miss.  As a matter of fact, if you were to take only the great songs off of this release, you would only have about an EP's worth of material.  So why doesn't this get a lower grade?  Mainly because the worthy material that is on here is top-shelf, diverse, and original metal peppered here and there with elements of thrash and southern rock.  It's quite the unique sound, and given time, X-Cops could very well have been bigger than GWAR.  Shame they met an untimely demise, and a bigger shame that this can be somewhat of a hard CD to hunt down these days.  Fans of GWAR without a doubt need to pick this up even though there's only one song sung by Oderus Urungus (aka Dave Brockie) who opted to play bass for X-Cops.  Fans of the punk/metal sound certainly need to find this, as this is one of the better albums you may never have heard.

Song summaries include...

1. Interloper - Over a full minute of fake police band emergency calls followed by some sludgy, lethargic filler.  With the exception of the drumming, not a decent way to kick off the album.  D+

2. Barbells - 3:30 of hilarious southern fried GWAR...er...I mean, X-Cops.  A

3. Cavity Search - Mercifully quick weighing in at just under 2 minutes.  Seems to be the equivalent of a stuttering child giving a book report in the front of the class.  Great lyrics, but ill-timed vocals on top of generic metal.  D+

4. Zipper Pig - Retarded intro, but after that it matches the speed and intensity of Nuclear Assault's "Hang The Pope".  Vocals are a bit exasperating, but easily looked past.  B+

5. Welcome To New Jersey - Another entertaining song matched with inspired riffs and solid drumming.  A

6. Your Mother - Slow, repetitive, boring.  Worth one or two listens for comedic value.  D-

7. The Party's Over - The only song which is mainly sung by Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus), and as can be expected, it's vocally diverse followed up with strong supporting background chaos.  A

8. 5-0 - Not bad if you can look past the ungodly tedious lyrics.  Pass it off as filler.  C+

9. Tune Up Time - Nice, brief, minute long instrumental.  B

10. Third Leg - Two minute punk/metal hybrid onslaught all about the love of guns.  Off the wall solo at 0:58.  B+

11. Paddy Wagon Rape - Slow, wearisome, bottom-heavy ditty about...well...paddy wagon rape.  On a positive note, this helps you fall asleep.  D-

12. Highway Star - X-Cops cover classic Deep Purple with altered lyrics.  Yes, it kicks ass.  A-

13. You Fucked Up - Another slow, generic tune with plenty of swearing.  Kids are bound to love this one, although other than the digable bluesy guitar, you might as well just get one of those handheld insult machines and keep hitting the "fuck" button.  D

Shev's Rating:  B+

Discography (last updated 6.15.06):
You Have The Right To Remain Silent... - 1995
Beat You Down/Junkie single - 1996