Hunter Killer Thompson
Original Release Date: 12/09/4071
The Intergalactic Two-Wheel Racing Circuit (ITWRC) is known mainly for its unforgiving final race across the harsh deserts of LV-427, a once prosperous and tropical planet in the Zeta Reticuli Galaxy. While there are technically 50 events throughout the Universal Year (including the delightful romps through both the water-dependent Hydrocity and the ICZ tundra), the Death Mint 4000 across LV-427 brings the masses to a halt. Salt and sand for miles, surrounded by the sharp incisors of mountains past, drag on endlessly with only the colorful flags of Gas Towns (the official petrol sponsor of the ITWRC) to denote how far one is from the finish. The method of choice in these events is the motorcycle, by way of Earth (Milky Way Galaxy), which, though primitive, allows the skillful to pull off some much-lauded tricks. With its ground-based propulsion system, gone are the days of skillfully launching above the fray; the only obstacle is the maximum speed of your speeder. Instead, the two-wheeled death machines prattle at speeds of only 80 miles per hour, susceptible to even the tiniest of rocks, launching the riders to an uncertain fate (mainly broken necks and smashed mouths). Hunter Killer Thompson, fresh off his album chronicling the rise and fall of a dissident political party that he has ceremoniously founded, had a craving for, to put it bluntly, death. Entering the ITWRC with no knowledge of the motorcycle or the rules of the race, Thompson built himself a following and a slate of wins that put him in contention for the championship race: The Death Mint 4000. What began as a routine shellacking of the competition, Thompson was waylaid about a half-mile from the finish line when a saboteur, as he claims, set off a chain reaction of explosives that tore a hole through the rear tire of his bike. Determined not to lose, he limped across the finish line, only to find that the race had ended several hours past, the concussion he had received filling his head with images of victory. With every bone in his body nearly broken, he spent a year in the hospital recovering and chronicling his journey in Fear and Loathing on LV-427. As was his pedigree, the album sings along with warbling highs and descends into tender, yet frightening, lows, enunciating the broken bones and all with clanging drum beats and chant-like punctuations of melody and bass. But there is hope amongst the synthetic desert sounds on display, for he had conquered, at the very least, another fear of his: death. He was very much alive, but for how long?
Side A
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
Hydrocity Blues
Wheelie
&
Side B
Death Mint 4000
Fear and Loathing on LV-427
Fury Road
Finished?