The Diaz Brothers hail from the Macem enclave way up in the North East of England and although you might be mistaken from the sound of the opening song and lead single ‘Be My Drug’ from Sunny California, think Bad Religion or Descendents but harder edged. This throbbing, melodic beast has the edge and power to compete with anything the Sunny Pacific coastline has offered in a Decade. A ferocious wall of guitars held up with excellent melodies and layers of backing vocals that paint a very different picture from the cliches of the North East of England.

‘Be My Drug’ has the melodies and harmonies of prime time Feeder, but with a much harder edge to the music if these guys were heading out on a world tour wedged between Bad Religion and their ilk. A hard punk style but with massive melodies and choruses full of twists and turns. If Epitaph had anything about them, they’d be picking this up and giving it a North America distro right now and get them on the Warped and Vans roster pronto.

‘Hourglass Full of Quicksand’ is frantic with a massive beat holding down the song as it charges straight for your ears. What really impresses me is they can take their foot off the gas like ‘As I Tear’ but still cruise along with an impressive air of confidence in the songs.

The ten songs are super strong from first to last, the heavyweights like ‘Ego’ offer riff after riff before ‘Anxiety landslide’ is off like a rocket with a ton of energy. If I were to pick a favourite, it might well be the peacock of a track, ‘Who Am I’ as it weaves from the strong arm heaviness to the groove on the verse before kicking up some dust on the chorus. I also felt the best way to get the whole experience was on a fast-paced walk with good earphones for the full dynamic range of what The Diaz Brothers are all about. The excellent play on words ‘The Great British Fake Toff’ is out of the traps like a rocket, so buckle up, kids (and us older folk alike). The Diaz Brothers are in control, and the world is their oyster on this, the difficult second album. Still, by the sounds of it they have nothing to worry about; they’ve got this covered. They should power on from strength to strength with an album so well-rounded with excellently crafted songs they’ll be playing decent venues far and wide to packed rooms of appreciative punk rockers and rockers alike.

The world is indeed theirs, and they have the tunes to take them around it several times and as for the difficult second album syndrome, puh! piece of piss these Sunlun lads have breezed it with this tight, on point, loud, modern sounding slice of punk rock that’s not snotty nor is it beginners luck played by guys who can’t carry a note in a bucket because The Diaz Brothers are modern and understand what constitutes punk rock in the 21st century and how to deliver it with a cherry on top. Buy It!

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