THE BRONX
‘THE BRONX’
(WICHITA)

Rating: [9]
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Deep down The Bronx must be feeling pretty smug with themselves right now; safe in the knowledge that they have not only recorded a damn fine follow-up to their 03 self-titled debut, they’ve also recorded by far the best punk rock album of 06, leaving all competition in the dirt.
In fact, if there is any band at all who think they’re good enough to challenge this album, please step forward, ‘cos I’m curious to hear anything surpass The Bronx right now. Starting off with some Swahili chant (or something like that), the quartet kick in with the frantic, relentless ‘Small Stone’ before laying waste with the agitated ‘Shitty Future’ and the bombastic groove, sleaze and dirty bass rumbles of ‘History’s Stranglers’. Albums never start off as well as this!
Matt Caughthran’s rasp controls the show as he erupts with the kind of conviction the likes of M Shadows and Matt Tuck could only dream of. Meanwhile, Joby J Ford demonstrates true guitarmanship without the OTT fret-wanking twaddle with which most of today’s players have become obsessed.
And yet this album is by no means a one-dimensional affair. Rather than rewriting their phenomenal punk rock masterpiece debut (recorded in Gilby ‘Guns N’ Roses’ Clarke’s garage), The Bronx have demonstrated they are by no means one-trick ponies. If they had repeated the formula that worked so well on the debut, then The Bronx would be written off as boring fuckers but, as with all great bands, reinvention is of the essence.
The subdued ‘Dirty Leaves’, complete with subtle keyboards, finds Mssrs Caughthran, Ford, Tweedy, and Vik exploring their musical horizons. ‘Transsexual Blackout (The Movement)’ is a hip-swinging boogie rocker and ‘Around The Horn’ is a bad-boy dirt-fest. Closer ‘White Guilt’, replete with slide guitar and Caughthran’s croons of “Too many lines, one too many times”, almost sounds like The Rolling Stones (hey, I did say almost), and ensures ‘The Bronx’ ends on a high. It’s all over in little more than 30 minutes, so there’s no room for aural diarrhea – just tonnes of confidence and damn good songs!
The Bronx will bludgeon your ears in a far more genuine and accomplished fashion than Avenged Sevenfold. And they don’t wear make-up either. If The Bronx haven’t changed your life already, then they sure as hell will do now!