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Who would have thought that The Damned would still
be releasing albums 32 years after they first formed?
You have to admit; that is some achievement, when
they first started they were releasing albums pretty
much every 2 years and then in the 90's things started
to slow down as they released an album in 1995 then
it took them until 2001 to release their next album
and it’s now taking them until now, well December
8th to release their new album 'So, Who's Paranoid!.
The Damned have had their fair few ups and downs,
they have gone through more line up changes than
most bands would in their professional music career,
but you have to remember that The Damned have
been together for 32 years, yes 32 years, that’s
more than triple the time that most bands these
days stay together for, granted The Damned have
split up and gone on hiatus on a number of occasions
but it’s never been permanent, they have
always come back to release another album and
rock out live again and again.
'So, Who's Paranoid?' is the first new release
from The Damned in 7 years and it’s been
well worth the wait as the band sound as good
now as they did all those years ago, times may
have changed but The Damned are still The Damned
and they haven’t lost their skill when writing
songs.
The album is very melodic and like most material
from The Damned and other punk rock bands from
their generation, the bass lines are quite quirky
and bouncy, the guitar riffs are quite basic but
they do stand out in places and Dave Vanian's
vocals couldn’t sound any better.
The album opens with 'A Nation Fit For Heroes',
the song is really good and people who have liked
The Damned’s previous albums, The Stranglers
or Social Distortion will totally love this song
as influences of those bands can easily be found
within the song. Dave Vanian's vocals are really
softly spoken throughout the song and the overall
melody is spot on.
Captain Sensible's guitar playing on 'Under The
Wheels' is really good especially during the instrumental
introduction to the song and once again Dave Vanian's
vocals have never sounded so good, sounding so
dark and clear over the overall jagged melodic
sound of the band. Dave's vocals sound darker
than ever on 'DR. Woofenstein', the song is really
slow paced and has such a unique sounding down
tempo chorus. 'Shallow Diamonds' starts off with
drum rolls from Pinch, seconds later the song
goes on a mid-tempo melodic ride with Dave Vanian's
vocals flowing a bit faster. 'Since I Met You'
is a proper depressing sounding song, however
things pick up again for the rocking 'A Danger
To Yourself' thanks to Captain Sensible’s
guitar riffs especially his guitar solo midway
through and also Monty’s keyboard work.
If you turned your stereo on and magically it
was midway through the song 'Perfect Sunday' and
you have never heard it before and didn’t
know what it was you would think that you was
listening to music from a dark gothic themed musical
as the instruments are stripped to a minimum with
pretty much just a keyboard piece running through
as Dave sings in a style that sounds as strong
as a lead man from a musical.
It’s fair to say that 'So, Who's Paranoid!'
pretty much carries on in the direction that their
previous album 'Grave Disorder' was heading in,
but this time around the band shine all around,
there are no real weak moments on the album, there
is a big variety of sound and the drumming, guitar
riffs, bass lines, keyboard lines and vocals sound
better here than they ever have during the bands
career so well done Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible,
Monty, Pinch and newest member Stu West.
Hardcore fans of The Damned are going to be more
than happy with 'So, Who's Paranoid!' and what’s
better is the fact that the band are going out
on tour in support of the album.
4/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Captain Sensible (Guitar, Vocals)
Pinch (Drums)
Dave Vanian (Vocals)
Stu West (Bass)
Monty Oxymoron (Keyboards) |
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Listing |
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1. A Nation Fit For Heroes
2. Under The Wheels
3. Dr. Woofenstein
4. Shallow Diamonds
5. Since I Met You
6. A Danger To Yourself
7. Maid For Pleasure
8. Perfect Sunday
9. Nature's Dark Passion
10. Little Miss Disaster
11. Just Hangin'
12. Nothing
13. Dark Asteroid |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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