The second best Punk album of the year!
Southern California street-punkers The Briggs give us a new more accessible album than some of their previous offerings. There are still the political messages throughout the album in the thoughtful lyrics just like their New York buddies The Casualties, but the difference here is the catchiness of their songs.
Album title song, 'Back To Higher Ground' starts off with music that sounds a little like it maybe a pop/punk song, but with the distinctive raspy vocals you know this isn't throwaway poppy-pap, but real gutsy-punk. 'Let Them Know' is in the vein of The Clash with chugging guitars, and it's obvious that this is a long way away from their 2003 album 'Numbers' which lent very much more towards the traditional punk of the early to mid 80's.
'Song of Babylon' could well be Alkaline Trio having a go at street punk. No really it could, where as we then have crowd chanting, and chugging guitar riffs on 'Common & Unknown', whilst the riffs are large and thick like a sailors forearms on 'Everyone's An Actor'. There is a brilliant non-Irish song of 'Wasting Time' which could've been taken from mates Flogging Molly. It's fast and catchy and just short of a fiddle and a pint of Guinness away from the country of shamrocks and shenanigans.
'Insane' is a slower song with the first few lines sounded like something someone might say to me – or not. "You certainly have a way with words // I'm impressed with your fiction // journalistic masturbation!" Great stuff. 'My Own Enemy' chugs along like an old friend, whilst there is a great beat on 'Blacklist' behind a really good punk rock song. By now you will be nodding your head like some idiot, and possibly jiggering around the room without a care. Last song, 'Don't Care About Us' has the odd flashes of a slow Rancid song and is a real gem. Mark my words you'll be singing along well before the end.
One thing that you will notice is that it would be hard to point at any song and say that it is a filler track, which goes to show the success of this album. Having already expressed my utter delight in Time Again's album 'The Stories Are True' this was always going to be hard to beat. 'Back To Higher Ground' doesn't quite beat it mainly because of the rawness of 'The Stories Are True', but with The Briggs album you have an almost perfect punk rock album that is well polished, well played and well written, drawing on influences from some of my favourite bands like Flogging Molly, Rancid, The Clash, The Casualties and Time Again. Finally on a good record label in Side One Dummy, and touring with the great band The Living End (where I hope to see the gig at House of Blues, LA in December), The Briggs are fighting for not only one of the best punk albums of the year, but also one of the best albums of the year. If you like you punk catchy but with balls, then this is for you. This is certainly the year of the street punk revival.