Saviours’ 2009 album, Accelerated Living, was one of the very first reviews I wrote after launching this blog. Now, almost two years and about 250 reviews later, the Oakland band is back with their fourth full-length, and when most bands at this point find a mature, polished groove in which to fit themselves, Saviours, quite unabashedly, are holding on to that ripped-jean, skate-or-die stoner metal sound like it was the last beer on Earth. The raw, basement-grade quality of Death’s Procession is the perfect platform for the dirge of riffs — both chugging and melodic — on display here; the red-eyed mix of NWOBHM mayhem and slacker thrash come together like an old school stink bomb thrown right into the Grim Reaper’s face. But Saviours only ride the traditional wave so far as the sludgy shore, at which point they stomp around in the wet sand, light a raging fire in some boozy deity’s name, and party all night amid a quagmire of bikers, broads, killers, dealers, and wizards. If we’re both around in another two years and 250 reviews, I guarantee it will be the same damn deplorable business, oh so excellent and brutally bad-ass, because Saviours know no other way in which to excel.
Check out the video for “Crete’n” from Death’s Procession!
I’ve written about more Texas punk bands this year than I ever thought I would, really, so if I’m going to do it again, I might as well take on the granddaddy of ‘em all, the Riverboat Gamblers, whose new four-song EP, Smash/Grab, is near eight minutes of pure soil n’ snot pop that only they can deliver. In fact, what it really delivers is that old school Gamblers sound we haven’t heard since 2003′s Something to Crow About, that raw, loose, up-tempo ribaldry and shout-along savagery, which ought to wash away any uneasy feelings you may have had toward the commercial leanings of 2009′s Underneath the Owl. Each of the songs here (“The Ol’ Smash and Grab,” “Parasite Friend,” “Maggie Lea,” “Anything But You”) ooze with the manic energy these mavericks have been known to consistently unleash on stage, which means there’s no bells, no whistles, and no slick production. Just sweaty, ageless, gutsy rock n’ roll inspired by — and inspiring — youthful indiscretion one petty crime at a time.
Michael Monroe Sensory Overdrive
Universal/Spinefarm
Without getting bogged down by the finer points of the multi-page CV that details the history, talent, and accomplishments of each one of the members that make up Michael Monroe’s new super-backing band, it can be said that the Hanoi Rocks frontman has never surrounded himself with such an awesome cast in his entire solo career. With Sammi Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks) on bass, Ginger (The Wildhearts) and Steve Conte (New York Dolls) on guitar, and Karl Rockfist on drums, Monroe has taken care to assemble an ensemble that thrives on friendship, familiarity, tradition, energy, pedigree, and musicianship, and the music reflects that enriched bounty in big, bold ways. Without sacrificing his signature style, which usually involves plenty of harmonica and sax, Monroe ratchets up the power well past pretty pleasure, making Sensory Overdrive a cannon shot of sleaze n’ roll that’s equal parts sparkly pop and heavy punk rock fury. There’s no doubt that Ginger’s sticky fingerprints are all over this one, his hook-ladened influence practically dripping off every riff and chorus like pomegrante syrup laced with arsenic, but it’s the band’s chemistry, punctuated by Monroe’s familiar Norwegian rasp, that pushes this one into the red. Sensory Overdrive is full of so many eyelined hits it’ll make your head spin, and while it does an amazing job of playing to your old school sensibilities, it also stands up as compellingly current. Oh, and bonus points (as if it needed any) for bringing in Lucinda Williams (“Gone Baby Gone”) and Lemmy (“Debauchery as a Fine Art”) to help make this album even more special.
Check out the video for “’78″ from Sensory Overdrive!
Saviours
Riverboat Gamblers
Michael Monroe