Album Review: Ravagers - "Badlands"

 

Hailing from Baltimore, the cover of this new album from Ravagers should give you a good idea of the musical contents within. The group contain at least one ex-member of scuzz-pop-punks Biters who were briefly being talked about as the next big thing a decade or so again and former Biters frontman Tuk Smith is on hand to provide production duties here so the signs were certainly promising.

And I'm happy to say the promise is well and truly fulfilled. Badlands contains exactly the sort of sneering scuzzy rock 'n' roll that the Biters showed a bit of promise with but comes at it with that crucial added decade of experience to smooth out the rough bits and a new-found love of Alice Cooper and the Misfits with the freewheeling likes of White Widow and Trespasser packing a lead-lined gut punch to knock you into the middle of next week.

They can vary things up a bit as well - while Sick House and Losing My Grip pummel through with a barrelling Motorhead style aggression and the pounding drums of Nasty Night batter your skull like a sledgehammer, Shake The Reaper is more mid-paced and sounds like some deliciously evil collision between Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult and Blackout is the Ramones after watching too many '80s horror movies. Similarly, So Long is a Dead Boys style anti-smalltown attitude snarl and High On Stress is a sheer nervous breakdown set to music.

It's always good to find new bands to recommend in this 'ere webzine and on the evidence of Badlands, Ravagers are definitely a group who deserve your attention. Scuzzy and nasty the way all great garage-sleaze-punk should be but with a deceptive ear for a melody mixed in there as well, this is definitely an album well worth your time and investment. Go check it out.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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