Supersuckers – ‘Liquor, Women, Drugs & Killing’ (Hard Charger Records)

Supersuckers – ‘Liquor, Women, Drugs & Killing’ (Hard Charger Records)

When the title dropped, it was game over. Of course, this was going to be a killer album packed with cowpunk goodness, wicked solos, awesome licks and tricks and lyrics that would make me smile, smirk and howl. Twelfth studio album deep in almost four decades, I swear, as soon as the needle drops and ‘Maybe I’m just messing with you’ kicks me square in the temple, I’m hooked. Great tempo, familiar lick and gritty spaghetti vocals that hit the bullseye right from the get-go.

What next for these supersuckers? Well, how about a melodic mid-tempo rocker? Again, it’s a great hook for number two, and this one hits you between the eyes. Is it legal for a band to be this far into their rocky rockin’ career and still make records that sound this fuckin’ monsterously good? Already I’m punching the air and firing off my guns all at once, can I get a hell yeah! And a yee haw! Those supersuckers are killing it. If you ain’t digging this, then listen to Eddie when he says Go fuck yourself. Me I’m all in and loving life and loving the new long player from Supersuckers so all that’s gone to shit in the world, there are pockets of sunlight filtering through the cracks, and music can be one. Always with a great turn of phrase and married it to some memorable earworm guitar playing, it’s a comfort and the lifeblood to hear records this badass.

Let’s ease back a little and not get overexcited; it’s a marathon, not a sprint, so let’s get a shuffle on as ‘Unsolved Problems’ eases into my head and I can’t shift it. Gentle earworms are dangerous, like audio crack, be careful kids. On another point, whilst I remember, Eddie sounds magnificent on this record after his health issues, he sounds stronger than ever and sings like a seasoned pro, bloody marvellous.

Don’t become complacent or feel lulled into a false sense of security because Eddy and the boys turn it up and remind us it’s time to put it down.

The record ebbs and flows as we relax a little and Eddie whispers sweet nothings in our ear, and he explains how he tried to write a song. And boy did he write a song, in fact, he’s written a whole bunch of em right here right now. The playing on a Supersuckers record has never been this focused has it? At times it’s blistering, and I love the tone of those acoustic guitars on ‘Meaningful Song’, proving that these boys can turn their hand to whatever they like and pull it off.

If you’re umming and ahring, then stop right now. Buy this record because the Supersuckers are on fire and on this evidence are as good, if not better than ever. They don’t need to write another ‘Born With A Tail’ or ‘Pretty Fucked Up’, been there done that.  What you get for your hard-earned is eleven tunes of varying degrees of awesome, be it cowpunk shuffle, acoustic porch torches, or rock out with your cock out. Supersuckers do it better than most and leave a bloody awesome-looking trail of destruction behind them, and we can revisit this particular crime scene anytime we want. Now put that there song ‘Volunteer’ back on, grab a beer (and one for yourself) and turn it up. Hell, there’s even a stonkin take on Lee Harvey Oswald’s ‘Rocket 69’ (that reminds me to play that most excellent ‘Blastranaut’ album just because I can, and it fits right in amongst all this awesomeness.

Edward Carlyle Daly III, “Metal” Marty Chandler (guitar), and Christopher “Chango” von Streicher (drums) take a bow, you motherfuckers are trippin good, and I urge anyone who loves rock n roll to buy this motherfuckin’ record.

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Witchdoktors ‘Before The War’ from ‘IZZATSO’

Witchdoktors ‘Before The War’ from ‘IZZATSO’

WITCHDOKTORS TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM ‘IZZATSO?’ OCTOBER 31ST VIA BOMBER MUSIC

Limited 12’’ Vinyl & CD available for pre-order from Bandcamp HERE & Bomber Music HERE

 Pre-order HERE

London based WitchDoktors have been tearing up the UK live-scene across three decades, earning their reputation as one of the UK’s most enduring and electrifying garage punk rock’n’`roll bands. Described by UK Rock’n’Roll Magazine as “the missing link between rockabilly, blues, 1970s prime-time punk and 1960s garage,” their sound is a riotous blend of snarling guitars, infectious hooks, and raw energy.

Their incendiary live shows led to a six-year residency at London’s legendary 12 Bar Club, cementing their status as cult favourites on the UK rock’n’roll circuit. Over the years, they’ve shared stages with punk and rock icons including Ruts DC, Fleshtones, The Godfathers, Nashville Pussy, Revillos, The Wingmen, Steve Marriot, Dr Feelgood, The Damned and PIL etc.

Continuing their long-term UK collaboration with Bomber Music, 2025 sees the launch of their sixth LP ‘Izzatso?’. Somewhat appropriately, this release (on vinyl, CD and all major universal Digital Platforms) is set to drop on the ‘all-hallows eve’ – i.e. Halloween 31st October 2025. Featuring 11 bludgeoning tracks, WitchDoktors songwriting has evolved and branched into new territory in their continuing journey along the dirty road of rock’n’roll and whilst their roots are planted firmly in their upbringing that feasted on Punk, Glam, & Trash there is a bitter twist of Country/Americana thrown in for good measure!

Conceived during COVID and then delayed by the sad passing of their longtime collaborator and legendary recording engineer Pat Collier, ‘Izzatso?’ is a call in this age of misinformation to question everything. Echoing the sentiment of the late great Joe Strummer ‘see through the veils of bullshit or spins on stories or propaganda and to think for yourself.”

From incendiary opener ‘Lightning Strike’, an apocalyptic vision of the impact of climate change, featuring slide guitar by Leigh Heggarty (Ruts DC) to the twisted Mexicans of LP closer ‘Kicking the Can’, the band expertly explore a range of musical styles from their collective DNA. Written by longtime songwriting partners and lifelong friends Andy Last (vocals/guitar) and Tony Major (guitar/vocals), the songs explore and challenge the pressing social and environmental issues of our time. With killer melodies and thought-provoking lyrics, ‘Izzatso?’ strikes a poignant balance between reflection and hope in these often-difficult times.

Fans, followers and future devotees of this rousing band can now sample the album with the soaring, anthemic ‘Before The War’ single, which perfectly encapsulates the album’s life-affirming sounds and words.

“It’s a Post Covid PTSD hitting home like the scarred and broken minds of a victim of ‘active service’”, explains vocalist and guitarist Andy Last. “The masses subjected to ‘the beast’ created by the few. Cannon fodder all over again. Death and Destruction without a thought for the individual. Will we ever learn? Sign-up, Serve Up, mission completed, contract terminated and now it’s someone else’s problem. here’s your plastic medal and a shoe box to live in. Whatever happened to the sparkle in those beautiful eyes?”

The ‘Izzatso?’ album once again sees our beloved WitchDoktors in yet another collaboration with Producer/Mixer Tim Palmer who provided both sonic consultancy and steer from his villainous lair in ‘62 Studios, Austin TX to the rough mixes that Pat Collier started producing with the band at Perry Vale Studios, London UK before his sad departure. Coupled with more recent recordings made by the band with Grant Strang at the controls at Silver Shark Studios in South London, the entire album had morphed into a monster production that the band were proud to take the next step with. WitchDoktors looked Stateside again and forged a new relationship with Sterling Sound in Nashville TN, calling on the Mastering skills of Justin Shturtz to finalise this latest masterpiece. 

With the decades of chaos behind them (and no signs of slowing down!), WitchDoktors remain a vital force in British punk! Legends!? Well….almost eh! With this latest offering they should be, quite rightfully, well-assured of attracting further accolades for their ever-expanding Hall Of Fame and giving a nod and a wink to the further doses of the rock’n’roll recognition they will gratefully suck-up! All hail the might of WitchDoktors because they just refuse to lie down!

And yes….it’s WitchDoktors with a fukin’ K!’

LP to be available on 12” Vinyl LP (coloured & splatter), CD and all digital platforms.

Catch WitchDoktors live at the following dates:

November:

Fri 14th – The Steamboat, Ipswich

Sat 15th – The Anchor, Wingham, Kent

Fri 28th – The Old Barn, Milton Arms, Portsmouth

Sat 29th – 100 Club, Oxford Street, London

Sun 30th – Prince Albert, Brighton

December

Fri 12th – Johnny’s Bar, Watford

Sat 13th – Frog & Fiddle, Cheltenham

Feb 2026

Fri 13th – 100 Club, Oxford Street, London

WitchDoktors are:

Andy Last – Vocals & Guitar

Tony Major – Guitar & Vocals

Joe Colfar – Drums & Vocals

Lee Page – Bass & Vocals

Find WitchDoktors online at:

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

The Urban Voodoo Machine – ‘Other People’s Children’ (Gypsy Hotel Records)

The Urban Voodoo Machine – ‘Other People’s Children’ (Gypsy Hotel Records)

Covers albums can be hit and miss affairs. There are plenty out there, the good, the bad and the ugly. Well, with 5 studio albums, 2 compilations and an album of artists covering their own songs, London-based collective The Urban Voodoo Machine have surely earned the right to release a covers collection of their very own.

Chief songwriter Paul-Ronney Angel certainly thinks so. And in a world saturated with AI versions of your favourite songs reimagined as funk, soul or reggae, it seems fitting the one of the most exciting live bands around take 11 songs (some familiar, some not so familiar) and record them using real instruments, played by real musicians in a real recording studio.

For me, the essence of a good cover version is to put your own stamp on it and create your own masterpiece from an already existing piece of art. The Urban Voodoo Machine do just that with the opening song of ‘Other People’s Children’. Their take on the AC/DC classic ‘Hell’s Bells’ was actually recorded many moons ago for a Classic Rock compilation CD (remember those?). Who knew that injecting some bourbon-soaked gypsy blues bop n’ stroll music would work so damn well? With that iconic riff picked on an acoustic guitar and a horns & brushed beats accompaniment, PR and his band of brothers do the unimaginable and make the song their own.

It’s a strong start, but they keep the pace up with a rip-roaring one-two that really captures the live feel of the band. You could argue that ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ and The Stones ‘Factory Girl’ were made to be covered by Paul at his most inebriated, and the delivery just fits the feel of songs. Its captured beautifully, as our ringleader wails whisky-soaked tones over crashing, rustic instrumentation. The latter especially works so well with banjo and horns to the fore, creating a gypsy style party vibe.

Noone can deny the pop suss of ABBA, and ‘Chiquitita’ has never been tackled with such drunken aplomb. Side 1 ends with a spaghetti western drenched version of ‘Destiny Angel, an emotive song written by sadly departed founding member Nick Marsh. It has been re-recorded here with the help of members of Nick’s family.

Side 2 carries on the tribute to lost members theme with ‘The Lodger’, a song written by Mark Gilligan, who played with the band on and off for many years. His son Tristan joins the band on guitar for this Pogues inspired folky ditty, it’s a killer tribute. Originally a hit for The Standells in 1966, ‘Dirty Water’ is a rock n’ roll party that sounds like about 5 UVM songs rolled into one. With a faster pace and a fistful of energy, it’s probably my favourite song on the record right now.

Ry Cooder’s ‘Across The Borderline’, with its re-tagged “London, you’re my home” refrain is topical and suitably delivered in an acoustic based, gypsy blues style. The late night ‘live in the studio’ vibes continue with the smoky ‘Jimmy Jazz’, where PR and his harmonica take the spotlight to do justice to The Clash and make this London Calling cut even more jazzy.

The Urban Voodoo Machine love a good instrumental and if you’ve seen them live, you may well have seen them open with the classic ‘Popcorn’. Here it comes on like it’s been ripped straight from a Tarantino movie. The gospel classic ‘I’ll Fly Away’ brings things to a close nicely, a song the band play regularly in their other incarnation as The Urban Voodoo Machine Marching Band, who play funerals with a New Orleans style twist. Maybe I’ll get them booked in for my send off!

The live energy Of The Urban Voodoo Machine is captured magnificently by Alex McGowan at Space Eko Studios, and the great thing about this album is that it sounds like a regular Urban Voodoo Machine record. They bring the party every time, whether it’s their own songs or these other people’s children that they have made their own.

Like I said at the beginning, covers albums are hit & miss affairs, and this one is very much a hit as far as I’m concerned.

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Author: Ben Hughes

Carnage Inc. – ‘Carnage Inc.’ (Independent)

Carnage Inc. – ‘Carnage Inc.’ (Independent)

Indian thrash mongers Carnage Inc. have been around since 2011. They have built up a steady following through gigging intensely. Carnage Inc. have released an EP and a full album in the form of Tenebris, which was unleashed in 2019.

The band’s latest effort is a self-titled EP consisting of five tracks of molten metal. Carnage Inc. sounds like a combination of early Anthrax, Exodus and Testament, and there are tinges of more traditional heavy metal; Judas Priest, Savatage and Queensryche come to mind.

There are some absolute bangers on display here. The band are more than competent musicians, and they can write a metal tune or two. Pounding double kick drums, crunchy riffs and tasty guitar solos are the order of the day. The tracks are well constructed with great production. Epik is my favourite song on the EP. It reminds me of Fistful of Metal era of Anthrax with its raw production and full-on headbanging effect. I’ve played the EP many times since sitting down to review it. It really is fantastic. I’m off to check more of Carnage Inc.’s back catalogue!

If you love your ‘80s metal, be sure to check out Carnage Inc. and you’ll see that thrash is alive and thriving. Horns up!

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Author: Kenny Kendrick

AUSTRALIAS MINI SKIRT RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘BEEN A WHILE’

AUSTRALIAS MINI SKIRT RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘BEEN A WHILE’

NEW ALBUM ‘ALL THAT WE KNOW’ TO BE RELEASED NOVEMBER 14TH VIA BAD VIBRATIONS

PRE-ORDER HERE:

Five long years since their debut album ‘Casino’ snuck into the ears of punk enthusiasts around the world, Mini Skirt’s second full length album, ‘All That We Know’, is now ready to hurl at the world. The Australian pub-punkers continue to deliver their brand of jagged, raw political Aussie grit, delving deeper and leaning harder into their signature blend of Australian punk, ‘All That We Know’ solidifies Mini Skirt’s position at the forefront of a socially inspired noisescape.

Following the release of their ‘Pottsville River’ single last month, Mini Skirt are ready to lob another molten musical grenade at an unsuspecting music world with ‘Been A While’ – a hypnotic, grinding garage disturbance that in just over two minutes, manages to sound like The Fall colliding headlong with Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

“This track was written probably four or so years ago in our first proper writing session for the album, we’d hired a hall out in the hills behind where we live and stayed there for a couple of nights in sleeping bags on the floor,” remembers frontman Jacob Boylan. “I’d just got back from a visit to where I grew up for a funeral and was rattled by the mindset of the mates I’d grown up with that were at the funeral. It’s a bit of a heavy one. I loved the tempo of what the lads put together and fit my headspace like a glove.”

All grit and no glamour, Mini Skirt’s noisy new body of work is underpinned by lyricist and visual artist Jacob Boylan, painting a picture of the modern social climate, every verse and chorus a well-crafted and concise assessment that has the listener replaying each line to be sure they don’t miss a word. This is, as always, laid on top of the dirty, driving guitar/bass tones and skin splitting drums that have helped Mini Skirt to develop their own sound in a heavily saturated and competitive corner of rock’n’roll. Paying homage to Australian pioneers such as X and Radio Birdman, Mini Skirt’s sound remains raw and honest. 

Hailing from Byron Bay in the Far North Coast of New South Wales, the four boys in Mini Skirt produce a timeless sound that’s rough as guts and truly ensconced in the essence of pub rock that captures the climate of current-day Australia. Things aren’t always picturesque and idyllic; the vocals are urgent and frustrated while the music has a rawness and melody, sonically painting a picture of the hope through the struggle.

‘All That We Know’ lands mixed and mastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control) and is due to be self-released in Australia and via London-based label and gig promoters Bad Vibrations in the rest of the world.

Pre-order ‘All That We Know’ HERE:

New Saints – ‘V 1.0’ (Lux Noise)

New Saints – ‘V 1.0’ (Lux Noise)

Long time readers will be fmiliar with Bitch Queens and  Harry Darling & Melchior Quitt well the Queens are no more but Harry and Mel moved on and didn’t stand still and New Saints were born. Having seen the pair perform at the Hip Priests finale its great to finally get my ears around their synth drenched adjit punk pop hybrid thats thumping away at my skull.

Kicking off with the nasty bruising ‘Top Tier Lizard’ its more an amped up Depeche Mode with a bad attitude , no make that a stinkin attitude. Hot on the heels is the polished brain worm of ‘Probem Child’ with its twitching samples and pulvarising heavy riffs its a mash up of styles that shouldn’t work but it dovetails perfectly. Now if only Manson heard these two he’d have them writing for him all day long.

In a dark sweaty electronic club or in a smelly bar that sells Maidens brew this would work perfectly as long as its dark dank and the dry ice is plentyful New Saints are pulversing as ‘Shitsphere’ takes centre stage waving the middle finger in your face, excellent.

The MO is simple, polished production that hits the sweet spot time after time with well constructed songs that mix and mash electronic with hard rock riffage but the songs weave very nicely. ‘Born Annihilated’ begins with some well executed rapping before th ebeats are joined by that riff and Boom!

Put the Ket and MDMA down its not needed here this album will fuck your brain up if you play it loud and hard enough. The format is simple rince and repeat pen a great riff, accesorise it with tweaks and blips then turn the fucker up – ‘Billionaire Schmillionaire’ is a perfect example and oh I forgot great lyrics.

Its not all crash bang wallop mind, oh no sir. ‘City Of Thieves’ is like 80s Scorpions balladeering but a bit darker even if does a handbreak turn when the guitars go to be replaced by synths. Before the head fuck of the last minute. Huge.

‘Fck The Algorithm’ is punk as fuck but in a futuristic world – when worlds collide into a chaotic meltdown but one that is very appealing and highly addictive. Twelve tracks brought to a crashing halt as ‘Pitch Black’ is a war of the worlds spoken words address before one last hurah! and we slam dance into the distance with our glow sticks on fire hailing these New Saints as the future, All hail New Saints, and long live New Saints you mad pair of noisy bastards. Buy it!

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Author: Dom Daley

HOME FRONT – ‘Watch It Die’

HOME FRONT – ‘Watch It Die’

NEW ALBUM ‘WATCH IT DIE’ COMING 14TH NOVEMBER 2025 VIA LA VIDA ES UN MUS DISCOS

HOME FRONT holds on to a particular kind of passion. The sort of thing that guides you – like a climbing vine steadily blanketing your bests and worsts, cutting through changes and impasses; victory and loss. This passion, their drive, is what makes a record like Watch It Die, their latest full-length for La Vida Es Un Mus, feel just right. For decades the duo’s Graeme MacKinnon and Clint Frazier have embedded themselves in grass roots music making, community building, and the overpowering ebbs and flows of diy punk.  With Home Front, formed in 2020, they’ve given their lifetime of experience a chance to distil and then power into this musically omnipotent project which equally conjures textured Tangerine Dream sounds in a film montage, or the pummelling soundtrack to the first steps taken towards winning the fight of your life.

Its lead single “Light Sleeper” sends energy waves rattling through speakers with all the urgency and volume of post punk/new wave/street punk. The track is available alongside its video which features a cast of characters including Home Front touring members Brandi Strauss (bass), Ian Rowley (guitar), and Warren Oostlander (drums).

Home Front’s nod to influences and the themes of their lyrics are direct and detailed while maintaining enough creative distance to feel universal and unique. The production has again been bolstered by a team of long time confidants making a huge and unique record under the humble and hard working circumstances of remote pre-production and choosing to do their recording in home studios in their home town in Edmonton, Alberta.

The architecture of ‘Watch It Die’ is simple – 12 songs of danceable, hummable, rousing and honest music that only Home Front could make. The emotion of this LP is what solidifies these musical notions into meaningful art. “For us, ultimately, this is music that comes out of loss and heartbreak and failure, but I hope people have a good time listening to us. You can get rowdy, you can get emotional, you can do whatever you want, but maybe with all of that freedom, we all take a second to reflect on all our fallen brothers and sisters and friends who may have slipped away.”

On previous revered recordings Games of Power (2023) and Think of the Lie (2021), Frazier and MacKinnon gave us a snapshot of a cynical and alienating world. A place where hope was tempered by insignificance, exhaustion takes us, and where 2,000,000 voices screaming in unison can still go unheard. Watch It Die instead of asking us why and how we got here, struggling to cope with the sadness of a desperate world, brings us their “step forward” moment. A dose of optimism and ownership in the bleakest of times in which maybe it doesn’t have to feel so bad to be alone or desperate. Where the passage of time is not coloured by the nostalgia of a lost youth but more toward the celebration of wisdom earned. Watch it Die owns the ills it describes and catapults us alongside its creators who have the confidence and presence of mind to live beyond their limitations.

Watch It Die continues along the path of Games of Power, but it isn’t just a sequel. It is a road map of hope. MacKinnon and Frazier state, “For all of us in Home Front, ‘Watch It Die’ comes at a very transformative time. Geopolitically, musically and in our personal lives. With friends and close family members dying, to massive uncertainty around the world, this album encapsulates what it’s like for us to step into a ‘new world’ where all the old adages of ‘everything is gonna work out fine’ feel like a joke. We watch rich people get richer while the rest of us struggle just to get by. We watch colonisers kill without consequence, and in an age of information at our fingertips we watch people choosing to be ignorant to what’s going on around them. ‘Watch It Die’ speaks about our own humanity, a rebirth into a new world and how we can never go back to the way things were. We suffer for their dreams, but in saying that we must recognise the importance of our own community and look to energise them to build a better way of life. We have always been an anti-war, anti-genocide, pro-peace band. We are against crimes to human rights and all of those struggling through the horrors of imperialism. We stand with the people of Palestine and we stand with the Canadian Indigenous communities who struggle to uphold treaty rights as well as basic human rights like clean drinking water and generational trauma. One takeaway from our music is to make a safe space where our community can come together to air out grievances and find a better way to a new future.”

Pre-Order / Pre-Save Watch It Die

 The band will play two shows in LA later this year:

Sat Nov 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Paladium w/ Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Four and Castillo
Sun Nov 23 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Paladium w/ Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Four and Generacion Suicida



‘WATCH IT DIE’  WILL BE RELEASED 14TH NOVEMBER 2025 VIA LA VIDA ES UN MUS DISCOS

Problem Addict – ‘Back In Jail’ (Dummest Records)

Problem Addict – ‘Back In Jail’ (Dummest Records)

Second EP offering from this Philly trio of noise makers who live in the shadows and walk on the sleezy side of town, where shit happens and the music is rough and ready. Brought up on a steady diet of T Rex rhythms and dreams but with a darker reality of festering punk rock, Problem Addict have got it going on. ‘Back In Jail’ is what the kids would describe as Fire, or the slightly older amongst us would say is banging. Me I’d say it has the beating heart of Bolan played through TSOL’s instruments and the DK’s four-track recorder.

What it lacks in finesse and big studio edits and sheen, it has a beating heart full of napalm and it ain’t afraid to let it all hang out. ‘Damaged In Transit’ is the sound of cheap alcohol fueled punk rock giving the listener the middle finger right up in their grill.

It’s short and oh so sweet, and we love that here at RPM Online, it’s got heart and soul in spades and a pocket full of great ideas and tunes, and boy is it gonna let ’em out. Hell, to finish they even open Pandora’s box of pop shit just to fuck with you some more. Bad drugs Bowie and Bolan mixed with some more noisy fuckers but with a style and swagger Problem Addict might get to make a diamond long player with great tunes or they really might end up in jail or as Michael Monroe once said ‘Dead Jail or Rock n Roll’ one of the three only they can decide but lets hop for the latter. top tunes.

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Author: Dom Daley

Monty Oxymoron – ‘The Piano Plays ‘Til Midnight’ (The Songs Of The Damned) (Damaged Goods)

Monty Oxymoron – ‘The Piano Plays ‘Til Midnight’ (The Songs Of The Damned) (Damaged Goods)

Monty has been a valued member of The Mighty Damned since 1996 and has contributed to the songwriting process, and has also written and played with the Captain, but did you know he is a trained Psychiatric nurse and Psychotherapist

Now its fair to say The Damned have been the pioneers of Punk since its inception and have easily weaved their magic through many of its subgenres as the pioneers never afraid to take a chance and always had diversity in th e records introducing keyboards and having songs with synths so it might only have been a matter of time before someone in the camp inspired Monty to get in a studio and lay down his parts or interpritations for many of the bands best loved songs adding another flavour to many classics and some not so classic. Join Monty on this magical mystery ride.

Now I’m not sure if his tongue is firmly in his cheek or this is a deadly serious project, either way I was intrigued to investigate all nineteen tracks. Sure, we would all agree there are some quite beautiful songs that either already have significant piano parts or involve keys in some fashion, so beginning with ‘Beauty Of The Beast’ is safe territory, but having no vocals and just piano and no synths is very interesting. ‘Blackout’ had me upright and not sure whether to laugh out loud or to appreciate the majesty of the melody or scratch my head at the blasphemy of hearing it like this. Sure, the breakdown sounds wonderful, but whatever gets you through, I guess.

Monty often has me scratching my head as he dances on the side of the stage or leaps up and down, but when the band do the huge songs like ‘Absinth’ I see his worth and like what I hear. There are some safe tunes like ‘History Of The World’ where it works, and others like ‘Smash It Up’ that sound like it belongs on Blackpool sea front, amusing old punks in their kiss me quick hats.

‘Life Goes On’ sounds fantastic, and is it rude of me to prefer Captain’s performance of ‘Just Can’t Be Happy’? ‘Shadow Of Love’ works as does ‘Limit Club’, a song the band should get back in the set and leave it there in place of ‘Eloise’ if anyone’s asking. ‘The Dog’, ‘Disco Man’, ‘Generals’, ‘Natures Dark Passion’ and the beautiful ‘Under The Floor’ make this all worthwhile.

Saying that the tribute pieces to end this album, dedicated to Cap, Dave, Paul, Stu, and Pinch, are lovely, but not something I will be returning to, (Jazz just goes over my head or on this case right through it) even if the one for Paul sounds like the same amount of notes Paul hits every song hes ever played on. For Damned completists, no doubt a lovely piece of curio from a maverick figure in the most glorious and wonderful punk rock band that ever made a note of music. Long live The Damned and everything they do, even the bat shit crazy piano lounge albums with no words just piano. Respect to Monty and whoever commissioned this crazy album. I await the tour dates as Monty heads out on a solo tour with this bad boy.

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Author: Dom Daley