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Barn Burner: Bangers
31/08/10 || revenant
Do you want to know what goes really well with Barn Burners’ debut album “Bangers”? It’s mosh. As in Bangers and mosh. Get it? Get it? Anyone? Not laughing? Fuck you all.
Barn Burner came to my attention after I came across a number of positive reviews on the web, so I decided to go to their MySpace and check out what they had to offer. About a minute into the first track (the absolutely fucking awesome “Holy Smokes”) I was already looking for them in iTunes. Yes, that’s how much of a first impression these guys made.
What Barn Burner play is quite simply up tempo guitar driven stoner rock, and it is fucken sweet. It all follows a very simple formula: songs built around great rockin’ guitar riffs. But you know what? Complexity is over-rated. In fact, fuck complexity. I work with a bunch of monkeys that like to make simple things complex just to appear smart and talented. Fuck them, fucking posers. Simple can be beautiful, as this album proves. Great riffs, catchy choruses and no bullshit is what it’s all about. It’s so simple and yet so effective.
The music does have a very retro style, and certainly pays homage to the great rock music that emerged in the late 70s and early 80s. However, this is not to say that this album is rehashing a tired, old sound. Quite the contrary, this music has a fresh, modern energetic feel about it.
Production on the album is all about the guitars. Bass? Bah, can hardly hear it. Drums? Nothing spectacular, but does the job. Guitars? Yeah, they sound cool. Vocals? They are clean and effective without trying to be the centre of attention. They are certainly not exceptional, but nor are they poor. They fit the music well. Altogether this is an excellently produced package.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a tune or two off this album made it onto commercial radio station rotation. “Tremors”, in particularly, has a real pop-styled verse and chorus that would go down well with Joe Public. For us metal heads though, there is the killer opener “Holy Smokes” I mentioned above, plus the epic (but slightly slower and doomier if such a word exists) “Wizard Island” and the riff monster “Brohemoth”.
Barn Burner have certainly put together an excellent debut album and are definitely a band I’ll keep my eye on in the future. If you are looking for great, guitar driven tracks, but nothing too heavy, then this is the ideal album to get. And please Barn Burner, if you read this, call your second album “Mash”. Nothing goes better with bangers than mash.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Metal Blade
- Website: Barn Burner MySpace
- Band
- Kevin Keegan: vocals & guitar
- Marc Doucette: guitars
- Nick Ball: bass
- Taylor Freund: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Holy Smokes
- 02. Fast Women
- 03. The Long Arm Of The Law
- 04. Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow
- 05. Runnin Reds
- 06. Medium Rare
- 07. Brohemoth
- 08. Half Past Haggard
- 09. Wizard Island
- 10. Tremors
- 11. Old Habits
