This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Nobody is going to confuse Seattle speed-punk sleazeballs Zeke with a classic-rock band.
But you don’t need to own the K-Tel catalogue to know these hardcore headbangers dig their ’70s and ’80s metal. Just check out ’Til the Living End, the seventh studio salvo from these recently reunited (if not reformed) ne’er-do-wells. First, there are the song titles lifted from FM staples like Long Train Runnin’, On Through the Night, Little Queen, Chinatown and Roller. Then there are the licks nicked from Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Black Sabbath and (of course) Motörhead, not to mention lyrical nods to Jimi Hendrix and Blue Öyster Cult. As usual, the way Zeke hotwire it all into 15 grinding grenades of turbocharged power-chord thunder hardly sounds like homage. And sure, Blind Marky Felchtone’s gas-gargling howl is hardly a classic croon. Still, with its penchant for retro-rawk riffage, its slate of slightly slower and longer songs — two-minute tunes are practically rock opera for Zeke — and even a lumbering closing cut that’s about as close as these guys will ever come to a power ballad, ’Til the Living End is undeniably something of a blast from the past.
