This is Rock’n’Fuckin’ Roll!
Having already had the pleasure of reviewing the band’s EP earlier this year, I was therefore as happy as a paedophile in a playground to get my sticky digits on the album! These Canadian’s aren’t trying to be something arty-farty, abstract or en-vogue, and I applaud them for that. Add to this a bucket load of Sleaze, Glam and straight up good time Rock, and what we get is the sound of the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s repackaged, updated and thrust into modern times with great success!
Here with the band’s eponymous album we have the four tracks from the band’s EP in the first five songs. ‘Schools Out’ despite sounding like it might be the famous Alice Cooper song actually has a guitar riff more like Van Halen’s ‘Hot For Teacher’ and is probably closer in style to the latter, as the message is to the former. ‘Teenage Rampage’ is a real anthem song, whilst the struggles of age is spat out in the brash and non-apologetic way in, ‘18’, whilst in ‘Bad Touch’ we have an Iggy Pop meets AC/DC feel. Slap bang in the middle of these is, ‘Can’t Get Enough’ which sounds very much like the band Fastway, and it’s arguably this band that Sound And Fury sound most like. However it’s worth pointing out that whilst most of Fastway’s albums were slightly ropey, their best was the soundtrack to the film ‘Trick Or Treat’, and it’s this album that SAF emulate, mixed with a little Buckcherry (it’s worth noting that Fastway’s former singer Dave King, has reincarnated himself as the singer of ‘American/Irish’ punks Flogging Molly, believe it or not!).
This is Sleaze/Punk with teenage angst ridden lyrics for the majority of the album, like the catchy, ‘High School Hotbox’ that has simple AC/DC type drum beats and riffs whilst vocals that sound a little bit like Hellcat Record’s young Punks Orange, whist the lyric speak for themselves in, ‘Runaway Love’: “Hello daddy, hello mom // I make your daughter go off like a bomb! // Her mom and dad think she’s in a rut // All her teachers hate my guts // mom and dad are in a row // their little girl’s a woman now // I slipped it in, her dad walked in - he just lost control // shotgun blast, I’m running fast // but hey, hey, hey // she needs me every single day!” Then in, ‘Supercharged’ we have another high-octane blast of Punk.
Of the last two songs, and an earlier one what we get are slightly longer and more thoughtful songs. ‘The Stranger’ has most of the Sleaze/Rock feel to it but with a little more depth and more thoughtful lyrics. ‘Night Of The Ghouls’ tells of the dirty under belly of the streets at night, whilst last song, ‘Hellhound’ is a real gem sounding like Iggy in the verses but with big dripping riffs in the anthem-esque chorus. Just when you think the album is over we get a short sharp shot of Punk, that ends with the lines, “I’ve got rabies // I’ve got rabies!” This finishes and quite satisfyingly completes this chapter of the band’s musical life nicely.
On the band’s EP I did question how serious the band were with the sound and whether it was slightly tongue in cheek, however it’s worth noting that they aren’t The Darkness, and so aren’t playing a role whilst living as a cliché, this is how the band live and breathe, and whilst others are still going all Emo, it’s nice to see a band that love the simple pleasures in life: Rock’n’Fuckin’ Roll!