Sexybeast (label)
07 April 2014 (released)
02 April 2014
The Damn Vandals debut ‘Done For Desire’ was one of the best albums I heard in 2012 and I’ve been looking forward to the band’s sophomore album with bated breath. They haven’t let me down – this is pure killer!
From the kick off the band seem to have ratcheted up the power and the angst. Jack Kansas’ vocals are darker and his voice seems to have dropped an octave giving him more aggression and alongside Frank Pick’s guitar the pair tear out of the gate like a PCP fuelled whippet.
The opening lyrics of ‘Twist Up & Tangle’ tear into the banking fraternity and Pick’s guitar is huge, distorted and verging on the edge of breakdown. The driving beat courtesy of Adam Kilemore Gardens on bass and the explosive Chris Christiansen on drums completes the bands sound and you find yourself bouncing off the walls with the sheer energy of the number.
The pace hardly lets up on ‘Cities Of An Electric World’. Kansas vocals have all the power of a bull elephant in rut and the riff is urgent and deranged in turn.
This band are so together it is incredible. The soundscape is tiny with all the music seemingly squeezing out of the middle of the speakers and focussing all the energy straight at the listener – it really is a wild ride.
When they do slow it down a touch as they do on ‘Too Lazy To Die and Too Stoned To Live’ they get to an almost funky place and Pick’s guitar takes on a Howard Devoto-esque riff that just works perfectly.
The title track is sparky and spiky, punky and Mod at once and the bassline hits you like a hammer.
They somehow manage to hit out at boozers, stoners and stalkers as well as Homeland Security and pornography and squeeze all 10 tracks into less than 28 minutes in total – there isn’t any room for flab in the music and there isn’t any
‘Done For Desire’ was a terrific album but this takes all they achieved on that and takes it to 11 and a half.
