Harmonicat Walter Daniels and guitarist John Schooley exist at the local nexus of blues and punk, the former in fiery Austinites Jack O’Fire and Big Foot Chester and the latter as a one-man barnburner. Debut of their new vehicle Meet Your Death, the pair’s latest collaboration after a 2014 acoustic collaboration in Dead Mall Blues (also 12XU), bores into that core hard and fast. Backed by a rhythm section borrowed from the Strange Boys, Wiccans, and OBN IIIs, the duo seethes with bad intent. Powered by Schooley’s filth-encrusted slide and Daniels’ gruff bawl, Hank Williams’ “I Don’t Care If Tomorrow Never Comes,” Mose Allison’s “If You Live,” and the Screaming Blue Messiahs’ “Tracking the Dog” possess the subtlety of dental surgery. The band wears its affinity for the Australian underground noise like a neon badge, adeptly covering the Scientists’ classic “When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow” and two (!) Beasts of Bourbon songs. MYD reaches poisonous potency on Bo Diddley’s “Elephant Man,” a distillation of dirty virtues achieving garage rawk glory.

***.5

This article appears in September 16 • 2016.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.