NOBRO - Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar
(Big Scary Monsters)
Release Date: 23rd February 2022
Montreal quartet NOBRO bring out the seven track collection 'Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar' and I'm not sure if it's a mini-album or a long EP but either way, it's superb. Things kick off with 'Better Each Day' and some warm organs, choir vocals and hand claps soothe your soul before the tune errupts in to a Ramones meets Joan Jett inspired punk'n'roll epic. 'Julia' is up next with brooding verses and the kind of chorus that was made for crowds to shout back at the band en masse with supreme Veruca Salt energy.
The kind of inspirational notice board you'd find in your local thrift store is the message behind 'Eat Slay Chardonnay' but the energy is pure punk and when mixed with melodic vocals it is an intoxicating combination. The energy changes on 'Not Myself' with a sludgy bassline and metal riffage taking us to a Queens of the Stone Age realm but with fierce female energy that honestly makes me want to take up arms against 'the man' and anyone else who gets in my way.
You'd be forgiven for thinking a song called 'Bye Bye Baby' would be a sweet love song with maybe a Motown edge but the 100mph riffage and furious drumming did not come here for wooing and sweet nothings. Similarly, 'Get With U' might be a little less intense but there's an energy here that is the key to the greatness of this collection - single minded, determined, uncompromising and focused on getting to wherever the good times are. The collection closes with 'Life Is A Voyage', a near nine minute guitar and vocal odyssey that has a Bob Dylan feel to it in terms of a snapshot in time storytelling narative. I can honestly say that this is one of the freshest and hookiest new collections I've heard in a long time and if it's not in my top ten come the end of the year then it will have been an exceptional year.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/nobrocity
Live Dates:
1st April - Centre Videotron, Quebec
3rd April - Place Bell, Laval
6th April - Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
29th April - Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg
30th April - Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg
2nd May - Grey Eagle Event Centre, South Calgary
3rd May - Edmonton Convention Centre, Edmonton