Album Review: Airbourne - “Boneshaker”



Quite honestly, the prospect of a new album from Aussie Acca-Dacca copyists Airbourne is something that I'd normally look forward to with all the enthusiasm of being told I've got to drink a soup tureen full of stale piss. After blasting on the scene with a supremely confident debut in 2008’s Runnin’ Wild, the law of diminishing returns well and truly whacked this band with a vengeance to the extent that when I reviewed 2017’s turgid Breakin’ Outta Hell, I suggested that it was the sound of a band flat out of ideas who’d pretty much shot their full load on their debut.

But...and I can't quite believe I'm saying this...Boneshaker is actually...okay? Even quite good in places actually. Maybe it's the fact that the last two albums from this lot were so dreadful but this is at least a step back in the right direction although obviously not in the same league as Runnin' Wild etc. Sure, it still sounds like an AC/DC rip-off but at least this time it's a half-decent AC/DC rip-off with added aggression and the tempo being upped as opposed to Breakin' Outta Hell which just sounded like a dozen half-arsed retreads of Touch Too Much and its even worse predecessor Black Dog Barking (which was such a limp effort it should’ve been called Black Chihuahua Yapping)

At times such as on the satisfyingly chugging title track, they even get close to the awesome bareknuckle brawler rock of Broken Teeth although they're not quite of the same quality. But at least this shows that Airbourne might just still have a bit of fight left in 'em. We await their next move with interest...

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A brief return from the dead...

Image
  Yup, we're back. Don't all get excited at once. I’d been toying with the idea of doing an end of year list again this year and after a lot of umming and aahing eventually decided to go for it. As with last year, inevitably there were bumps along the way. As of the start of December, I thought this list would be around 40 albums but inevitably reading other people’s lists pointed me towards a bunch of stuff that had passed me by earlier in the year. Plus of course there’s always a few teasing buggers who put stuff out at the last possible moment. So 40 became 50 which became 60 which finally became 70. You lucky people. Actually though, reading through this list, the main thing that strikes me is that I think this might be the most musically varied end of year list that Nite Songs has ever done. From gentle acoustics through acclaimed indie veterans to punk thrash and good old fashioned scuzzy rock ‘n’ roll via some decidedly unexpected diversions (industrial folk music? Check...
Read more

Garbage Days Revisited #90: Soho Roses - "The Third And Final Insult" (1989)

Image
  "If you won't love me then I'll find someone who will!"  - Soho Roses  - So Alone The Soho Roses were a classic case of right band, wrong time. If they'd broken on to the scene in the last few years then they'd have had a ready made audience on the 21st century power pop scene and probably be regulars at Some Weird Sin and similar club nights in the Smoke. The reality? They broke through towards the tail end of the '80s and got lumped in with the dying embers of the Soho glam scene, leaving behind one sadly underappreciated album and a few EP's before self-combusting. In a way, I sort of see the Roses as a British version of Enuff Z'Nuff. Not so much in terms of their sound but more of the fact that they were a group crowbarred in with glam who weren't really a natural fit there and kind of paid the price for it - I've always thought Enuff Z'Nuff sounded more like a Britpop band with flashbomb guitars than a hair metal band. Oh sure, ...
Read more

Album Review: The Fades - "Night Terrors"

Image
  Hailing from South London, the Fades are gaining a reputation of one of the premier garage rock bands in the capital these days and, as with a few albums we've reviewed in these webpages of late, Night Terrors  was written during the lockdown as it was a recurring feature of life for the band's frontman Dave during the lockdown. As befits its title and subject matter, Night Terrors  is an off-kilter effort which might take a few listens to get into but rewards those who persevere with it. Certainly, the discordant vocals and guitars often give the impression of the whole operation being on the verge of collapse on the likes of The Pessimist  and Known It All Along  while Lost My Job  goes into XTC/Nightingales style post-punk territory. However, the likes of People In General  show that they can rein the weirdness in and build up an intriguing multi-part epic which starts off as tuneful new wave before drifting into a nightmarish state-of-the-nation ...
Read more