Destination Dusseldorf is the brand new studio album from Scotland’s legendary Skids. The band note Europe as an ongoing inspiration for the new LP; “from the beauty of the Renaissance to the savagery of many wars, the highs and lows have been there as an ongoing and ever-evolving influence. This new album follows in the footsteps of ‘Days In Europa’ as a celebration of friendship and shared experiences.” Boy, what a celebration it is. The whole album is an absolute triumph from the opening chord to the final crescendo there is clearly a lot of love, respect, craft and quality bled into the grooves of Destination Dusseldorf’.

Right from the off and the opening few bars you get the confident vibe oft opener ‘Open Your Eyes’ it’s a confident opener that like a ray of morning sunshine screaming through the curtains from Jobson’s vocal its a stomping thumping slice of Rock n Roll. The rolling drum beat and dirty riff it’s exactly what you want to hear the Skids doing. It’s a wide open broad brush stroke in vivid technicolour. It thumps straight into ‘Tidal Wave’ from the gushing opening riff and gang vocals its seconds out round two. It’s sunshine Rock n Roll, chest-beating and I have a feeling the band know they’re onto something and the trademark Celtic chimes on the guitar are kept on the down low which is great in my book and helps brand Skids.

After a cracking opening salvo, ‘Don’t Stop’ turns up the heat further with Jobson howling out the lyrics like a man who knows he’s performing some of the finest work of his career as the outwardly looking vocalist delivers knockout song after knockout song.

The title track keeps the overall vibe of the record ticking over nicely with a laid back slice of post-punk new wave. The band collaborated with some impressive artists from Youth and Hugh Cornwall to fellow Scottish artist Martin Metcalfe – who were all happy to lend a hand on various tracks not because they were being paid but because of their respect and love for the music.

‘How To Be Free’ opens with a big power chord and smoulders as it meanders through the first verse to the big chorus its not an in-your-face anthem but it has one foot on the wedge and one fist raised in an anthemic way its a rockin album that deserves to be heard and the louder the better especially on tracks like this.

‘Destination Dusseldorf’ is a body of work that is confident and epic in equal measures and easily some of the band’s best songs to date. Throughout a pretty impressive career, they have made records with a certain amount of filler but this one has none of what you might call album cuts or filler tracks, it’s lean and fit and once you indulge yourself you’ll have to agree. I was expecting a solid record but was really pleased when it exceeded my expectations and then some. Buy this record it’s a summer sizzler.

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Author: Dom Daley