THE DIRTY NIL – ALBUM REVIEW

The Dirty Nil – Master Volume (Dine Alone

The Dirty Nil - Master Volume

Records)

Release Date: 14^th September 2018

It is here. The hotly anticipated new album from Canadian trio the Dirty Nil is here and it is glorious. Fuelled by passion, rage, intensity and no little sense of injustice, ‘Master Volume’ is as pithy as it is brutal and it is just what we need right now. The album opens with ‘That’s What Heaven Feels Like’ a grunge’n’roll track with no shortage of swagger, largely due to the huge guitars that wouldn’t be out of place on compatriots Monster Truck’s latest album. ‘Bathed in Light’ strikes a balance between Glam Rock and early Oasis but there’s a chorus that was born in 90s Seattle and left to raise itself with nothing but a pick and a bottle of beer. It’s an intense start so there’s a sense of relief when ‘Pain of Infinity’ opens with a slower beat but it turns out there’s no let-up in the intensity, it’s a false dawn of screamed vocals and powerhouse drums.

Now, I need to point out that ‘Please, Please Me’ has no resemblance to the Beatles song but is instead a Ramones instead boozy romp through a sweaty, punchy, rowdy crowd in pursuit of the next beer. ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ finally slows things down but the passion in the vocals skews the notes to a point where you can’t help but think of Cobain and some of his pain-inspired performances – the lyric “I mean this in a nice way….Fuck You!” is a particularly visceral moment in a song full of bile and anger. ‘Always High’, by comparison, is a floaty little pop number…..just kidding, there’s still that passion but this time there’s a sense of faded nostalgia as if you’re driving past your old stomping ground and it’s been gentrified beyond all recognition.

The Dirty Nil

The fun continues on ‘Smoking Is Magic’ which barrels along like AC/DC being driven to the bowling alley by Josh Homme and Dave Grohl (and they’re already late) while ‘Super 8’ brings back memories of listening to bands like the Ataris or Engine 88 back in the day. Recent single ‘I Don’t Want That Phone Call’ is as driving and primal as ever and the album peaks with ‘Evil Side’ which is twice the length of any other song on this collection. This final number starts with an indie-rock shimmer that is reminiscent of the Killers before sprawling in to an out of control rock behemoth that just destroys everything that comes after or has gone before – you can see why they left it until the end of the album (and, presumably, set). The Dirty Nil are the natural progression of rock in the 21^st century. That is to say, they manage to wrangle ideas, messages and challenge in to pithy three minute pop songs and then wrap them in distortion, anger, blood-curdling vocals and honest emotion until you have to swallow it whole or not at all. All or nothing, then, just the way they’d want it.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/thedirtynil/

Live Dates:

18^th September – Indie88, Toronto

25^th September – The Waterfront, Norwich

26^th September – The Flapper, Birmingham

27^th September – The Joiners, Southampton

28^th September – Boston Music Room, London

24^th October – The Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland

25^th October – The Underground, Detroit

26^th October – Cobra Lounge, Chicago

27^th October – Freakfest, Madison

28^th October – First Avenue & 7^th St Entry, Minneapolis

30^th October – The Good Will, Winnipeg

31^st October – Amigos, Saskatoon

1^st November – The Starlite Room, Edmonton

2^nd November – Commonwealth Bar & Stage, Calgary

3^rd November – The Cabaret, Biltmore

4^th November – Lucky Bar, Victoria

6^th November – Funhouse, Seattle

7^th November – Holocene, Portland

10^th November – The Echo, Los Angeles

11^th November – The Rebel Lounge, Phoenix

13^th November – Barracuda, Austin

14^th November – Three Links, Deep Ellum

15^th November – Santos Bar, New Orleans

16^th November – The Masquerade, Atlanta

17^th November – The End, Nashville

18th November – Local 506, Chapel Hill

20^th November – DC9, Washington

21^st November – Voltage Lounge, Philadelphia

23^rd November – Mercury Lounge, New York

24^th November – Middle East Restaurant, Cambridge

26^th November – L’Anti Bar & Spectacles, Quebec

27^th November – L’Escogriffe Bar Spectacle, Montreal

28^th November – Babylon Nightclub, Ottawa

29^th November – Wax Nightclub, Kitchener

30^th November – Rum Runners, London

1^st December – The Opera House, Toronto