Album Review: Michael Monroe - "I Live Too Fast To Die Young"

 

Safe to say that this might just be one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2022 so far. Since the Mk2 version of Hanoi Rocks called it a day, Michael Monroe has assembled an impressively talented bunch of musicians around him (Steve Conte, Rich Jones, Sami Yaffa and Karl Rockfist) and come up with a consistent run of albums which have pretty much cemented his place as one of the all time sleaze rock greats.

I Live Too Fast To Die Young is thankfully everything you'll have been hoping for from a new Monroe album right from the moment the call-to-arms of Murder The Summer Of Love kicks into gear with its chorus of "They said never trust a hippie and I can't say that they're wrong/The dead ain't feelin' grateful when they're bleeding on the lawn/You want a revolution better get up off your ass". One of Monroe's strongest solo tracks to date and a great opener here.

Young Drunks And Old Alcoholics is the sort of breathless pop-punk rush that you just know Billie Joe Armstrong wishes he could write before Derelict Palace sees Mike channelling his old mate Stiv Bators during his Lords of the New Church days with its sinister guitar riff and paranoid lyrics. Which makes it all the more startling when All Fighter crashes in with its whiplash riff and old school Manics style anger. Just in those first four tracks, this album has already given more twists, turns and tunes than nearly all of its competition so far this year.

Everybody's Nobody reminds me of another of Monroe's fallen compadres, Walter Lure and the classic Waldos Rent Party album with its tales of trying to cling on in the rock 'n' roll world in the face of diminishing returns. Antisocialite is even more gentle, a sparse piano ballad which sounds like something Elton John would have come up with in one of his more thoughtful early '70s moments. Can't Stop Falling Apart keeps the '70s vibe going with a definite Mott the Hoople influence with its tinkling piano and stomping rhythms a la All The Way From Memphis.

Pagan Prayer cranks the tempo right back up with an almost Anthrax-style heavy riff before the mid-paced No Guilt is another right-on-the-money diatribe from Monroe. The title track cranks the riffs up with a Dead Boys style anthem of sheer defiance before Dearly Departed throws us one last curveball, a haunting slice of electronica regarding the burning of old bridges to bring this one to a suitably unsettling conclusion.

There's been some serious competition but I think we may just have a new frontrunner in the album of the year stakes here - I Live Too Fast To Die Young is a veritable feast of an album combining everything that made Monroe's previous albums great but adding in some nods to old friends and influences and the odd unexpected curveball to keep you on your toes. Put simply, it's pretty much an essential listen and I urge you to track it down pronto for some much needed rock 'n' roll nourishment in these dark times.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (10/10)