Reviewed by Tony Cummings

By the grace of God you'll catch this wacky band of indie rock evangelists from Hawaii at '97's Cross Rhythms Fest and once you've caught their steam-heat live set you may well want to search out their 1996 CD. The Kookamungas have in Kimie Varian a fine lead singer who can deal with raw rock rhythms and bluesy ballads while the songs get the message across with force. Sometimes the arrangements meander ("Fear" clocks in at 9'44") and develops into a Golgotha concept piece complete with sound effects. The band's lack of textural variation, and rather irritating fragments of humour, stop 'God Bless Germs' from being a complete success. But, as I said, Kimie has a haunting voice and these guys can rock.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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