Album Review: Hung Like Hanratty - “Dragged Up”

 

How to describe Hung Like Hanratty? Imagine Sleaford Mods except with a full band instead of just two of them and replace their electronica with a brand of foul-mouthed punk reminiscent of Peter & The Test Tube Babies and Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions. Now on their fourth album, they're still blasting out the same basic three chord thrash (albeit with some surprisingly adept flashy guitar solos in there) and growling out humorous tales of smalltown psychosis like I Hate The World and Twat On A Bike.

So why the hell is it so addictive then? I think it's because in a country which hasn't just gone to the dogs in recent years but blown its last tenner on a three-legged chihuahua while it was there to boot, not to mention that we've been stuck indoors unable to see our friends for the best part of nine months while listening to a load of silver-spoon-up-their-arse poshos desperately trying to reassure us that they know what they're doing when it's pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain that they haven't got a feckin' clue that a lot of us have quite a lot of stored up schadenfreude boiling up inside us at the moment and it's good to have some loud angry music to shout insults along to like Inland Revenue, Puppet Government and Mr Hypochondriac. I mean, honestly, it's pretty difficult to dislike an album with a song called Fuck With Me And I'll Block You On Facebook on it.

But it's not just the anger and sense of humour about it (and their Hip Priests style "zero fucks given" attitude as a song title like Epstein's Diary suggests) - like I say, HLH are a surprisingly adept band musically and have that sort of Ramones-style tightness that gives this sort of music that little bit of a harder punch and makes it just that little bit more satisfying. And there's no denying that those gang chant choruses definitely have a habit of taking residence in your head and stubbornly refusing to leave. Even the late great Dave Greenfield shows up to add some of his trademark keyboard skills to closer Living For The Weekend.

They may be a band ostensibly playing it for laughs but Hung Like Hanratty are certainly a lot more than a joke band. This is music to shout along to after a crap day at the office or stuck in your house and all the better for it. Roll on the day we finally get to go back to a sweaty venue and bellow along to some of these numbers in a live environment. Definitely recommended.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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