Denizen
Whispering Wild Stories
Self-released

Whispering Wild Stories is the third album from French noisemakers Denizen, who thrive on a rare mix of cowboy freedom and back alley boorishness, meaning they roll out endless amounts of dusty and rowdy stoner riffs but shove ‘em in your face with some hardcore attitude instead of letting you bake in ‘em. While Whispering Wild Stories doesn’t quite contain the brilliant animosity of Cursed, the toothless tomfoolery of Maylene, or the Norwegian death roll of Kvelertak, Denizen are able to harnesses the same kind of bloody-lipped urgency of each of ‘em in some way and throw their own wine-drunk, hot rod funk into it as well. Despite the fact this album is self-released, they still managed to snag Nick Zampiello again to master it at New Alliance East in the good ol’ U.S. of A., which no doubt helped shape its eight-song landscape into the motor-driven sewer-fucker it is. Add some sweet cover art by J. Issac and a cover of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and you’ve got an album that’s truly très bien!

Listen to “Casino Royale” from Whispering Wild Stories!

Social Distortion
Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Epitaph

It took about eight years after White Light, White Heat, White Trash for Social Distortion to drop Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll on us, but its bitter edge ripped something hard, and the straight-up hot rod rock was more than equal to the time it took to make. Now another seven years have passed and Mike Ness and his boys (now including Jonny Wickersham on guitar, Brent Harding on bass, and Josh Freese on drums) have returned once more with Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, a laid back, almost antithetical musical entity to what came before, the emphasis of the album’s action akin to reminiscing in a rocking chair instead of brawling in a back alley. I’m certainly willing to cut Ness some slack because he’s one of the few untouchables out there — and he’s been doing it for nearly 30 years — but with the exception of riff-proud opener “Road Zombie,” the Exile on Main St. blues of “California (Hustle and Flow)” and “Can’t Take it With You” (both complete with back-up soul singers), and the Thunders street glam of “Machine Gun Blues,” the songs lack a lot of the band’s signature knuckle tattoo grit and O.C. psycho stamina. What’s left are a bunch of mellow cow punk songs that might have a better run on the reported acoustic album that the band was/is supposed to be making. Regardless though, it’s nice to finally hear another Social Distortion record, and I’ll gladly take their rock n’ roll (even if it is a tad deflated) over most others’.

Listen to “Machine Gun Blues” from Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes!

Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction
We Are Volsung
SPV/Steamhammer

Dripping with pure gonzo rock action, Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction have endured decades of decadence, befouling the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll idiom with a more dangerous brand of sex, far deadlier drugs, and a nastier, sleazier style of rock n’ roll. Led by the tattooed beat messiah himself, Mark Manning, artist, wordsmith, and debauched raconteur, and guitarist Cobalt Stargazer, the Duffy to Manning’s Astbury, Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction have earned a cult following by pushing a larger than life libido up the tailpipe of any teenage runaway (girl or boy…they don’t discriminate) hungry for a backseat education. We Are Volsung then, the band’s sixth full-length, is every bit the riff riot you’ve come to expect from these vaudeville villains, liquor-drenched, leather-chapped viking rock, hard charging and chest thumping, with more of a nod to Norse mythology than back alley hi-jinx. Man, with classic, unbeatable songs like the title track, “Stark Von Oben,” “We Ride,” and “White Trash,” as well as the mean-boned rattlesnake slide of “Kill A Mockingbird,” who cares if Turbonegro ever gets their shit sorted out. And if you’re worried that Manning and Stargazer might be getting long in the tooth, don’t, because they continue to surround themselves with young destroyers with names like Jack Shitt and The Cat, and they can still sink each one of their pearly switchblades deep into your flesh and make you love every minute of it.

Listen to “We Are Volsung” from We Are Volsung!