Wichita Recordings, released 26/1/2009

 A long time ago a man invented Rock and Roll.  Then another man with tight jeans and long hair decided that Roll wasn’t really all that and he returned it in exchange for another large amount of Rock. 

Things like eating and sleeping fell by the way side as his new purchase began to take over his life, but not in a creepy, Pokémon type way.  Instead he felt more at home than a snivelling salesman in the company of Siralan Sugar.  He looked around him and thought, “god bless you, Rock, for giving me this monitor to put my foot on, and this gang of like minded gents to stand by me.  Let us take our message to the people and ensure they are Rocked until their asses become detached”.   

Okay, so I don’t really know how tight-jeaned or long-haired The Bronx really are, but they certainly know what they like.  Just to ram the message home, this is their third self titled album – there are most definitely no masks or pretensions from them.  Heavy, punky riffed, throat shredding rock is the order of the day for this California band with the geographically deceptive name. 

Song titles are largely redundant here so I won’t bother with them, except to say that running order folly has resulted in one of their catchiest choruses, “Spanish Handshake”, ending up at track number 10.  Other than that it’s all much of a muchness and although the singer’s shouty scream gets quite monotonous, I can’t help but respect the fact that he’s been able to keep it going through two albums and two albums’ worth of touring.  Go go Gadget Larynx. 

Although I respect their adherence to the cause I am sorry to say that this sort of stuff has probably been done better elsewhere (not quite the same but Blood Red Shoes are definitely worth looking at), or at least in terms of musical dexterity if not energy levels, for which they can’t be faulted. 

I understand the argument about keeping things straight forward and that you shouldn’t mess with a winning formula but if this was universal we wouldn’t have Metallica’s “Ride The Lightning", which would be a considerable shame.  The Bronx are about as revolutionary as meat and potatoes, but then there’s nothing wrong with good honest grub now and again, is there? 

The Bronx - http://www.thebronxxx.com/

Posted In Album Reviews, Jan 25 2009. Words - Martin