Wombats

  • Wombats
  • Zontar Must Die! (Voxx) 1984 

Ohio’s Wombats were on Voxx’s first Battle of the Garages compilation; judging by this muddy collection of punk tunes, they’re still in the trenches and may be suffering from shell shock. Zontar Must Die! offers some good songs — “In a Minute” is particularly promising — but abysmal production on the first (and most of the second) side blurs the instruments and vocals into an indistinct mess. When you can actually hear what the band is doing, there’s some dynamic rock’n’roll here, but ’60s crud authenticity can only take a band so far.

[Ira Robbins]