Based in Glendale, California, theater-punk outfit Countless Thousands recently unveiled the single/music video for “Lazar Wolf,” a track lifted from their forthcoming rock opera album, And The Triumph of Justice, slated for release in January.
According to Countless Thousands, “Lazar Wolf” is “a Thousands-style love letter to one of the greatest musicals of all time: Fiddler On the Roof.”
Made up of Davey Munch (bass), Light Return (guitar, vocals), and Danger Van Gorder (vocals, guitar), Countless Thousands merges Queen-like baroque rock, glam metal, and platinum-colored punk rock into what can only be described as the offspring of Queen and Styx raised on a diet of dirty, sizzling punk.
The lyrics, ebullient and extensive with luminous resonance, set the stage for the song’s narrative: the Butcher of Anatevka haunts a land of supercharged bedlam.
“And as the sun sets and a pale moon rises over the sleepy town of Anatevka… / THE BUTCHER HUNTS HIS PREY!” / As the sun sets so spirits rise / To gasp of a man there with frozen eyes! / The empty BUTCHER sings! / A mensch of wealth and taste / Life of luxury paid in bloody blades!”
“Lazar Wolf” opens on a thumping, metal-core-like rhythm topped by heavy, blistering guitars full of dark energy. Keening Styx-like vocals deliver the tale, followed by a stridently gleaming chorus rife with surging layers of timbres.
The thrumming chug of the melody gives the tune propelling, fierce textures conjuring up memories of Queen’s opera-Esque flamboyance. Yet the thick visceral punk dynamics infuse the harmonics with scorching, muscular, granular textures – raw and relentless.
The video is a trip, blending clips from Fiddler On the Roof with shots of the band dressed in Hasidic garb with fake beards hooked over their ears. Black and white graveyard scenes from a hoary version of Frankenstein imbue the visuals with sepulchral images of dancing figures. The highlight of the video is the band’s choreographed synchronized dance.
Countless Thousands definitely have it going on! “Lazar Wolf” pumps out souped-up punk rock embellished by rock opera.
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