The Damn Vandals – You, Me, the Devil and the
Sunshine
Release Date: Out Now
A couple of weeks ago this album
dropped and, much to my shame, I knew that but forgot to tell you lovely people
all about it – my only excuse is that I have a new four legged friend in the house
and he’s depriving me of sleep. Anyway, I’m not here to bring you problems, I’m
all about solutions so let’s dive in to ‘You, Me, the Devil and the Sunshine’
from London rockers Damn Vandals.
Kicking the door down with ‘Don’t
You Meddle With the Gods Tonight’, Damn Vandals announce their arrival with
thundering drums, grinding guitars and the vocals of a man who gargles with
rusty screws and TCP. ‘Biblical Dancer’ picks up the mood with a preacher aesthetic
that sounds like Jon Spencer holding court in an Irish bar in New York at
5.00am after a heavy night. The bass rumble of ‘This City’ is the kind of sound
that makes me miss live music – I want to feel it shaking my rib cage as the
rest of the band do their slithering snake thing with shaking hips and a glint
in the eye. It’s as strong as I’ve heard to a rock’n’roll album in a very long
time.
There’s a Jim Jones Revue meets
Crazy Arm vibe to ‘Into the Light of Love’ before ‘Happy in the Fall’ goes all Black
Sabbath on our asses with riffs the size of Stone Henge. ‘Cobra’ stands out as
a more contemporary track that sounds more like Kings of Leon while ‘Jack All’
pulls out the bottle neck and distortion combo and takes us back to a whiskey
bar somewhere in the deep South where the Confederate flag is still flying. The
sinister stomp of ‘It’s Alive’ is straight out of a modern horror movie with its
relentless guitars and unwavering drums but ‘Mr Lemon Shake’ takes it to the
next level as you can almost hear the hatchet breaking through the wooden door
in the middle of the night.
There is a real garage-punk energy
to ‘Drink It Up’ that blends to Stooges with Les Anges and ‘Mammals at Work’
takes the Elvis lip curl and matches it with dirty guitars the make you want to
drive faster and take more risks. The album finishes up with former single ‘They
Won’t Be Happy Till They Blow Up The Moon’, a track that still hits hard and
works well as both an album ender and the encore tune that the audience has
been begging for. Damn Vandals are a modern British rock band who borrow from the
past but keep things fresh, exciting, engaging and energetic. The prime example
of this is this album – 12 tracks that fly past like procession of hog riding
bikers making you wonder what your life would be like if you ditched the day
job and followed them out on to the road.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/damnvandals