Album Review: Mr Shiraz - "Glorious"

Scary to think that Huddersfield's noisiest have been in this game for over two decades now. I've still got memories of seeing Mr Shiraz in Leeds in the early noughties when they were an energetic but very much of-the-time ska-punk band. Of course, they've evolved a lot since then with their sound taking on a much more muscular and mean feel to it and it's this which I'm sure has contributed to their deserved longevity in this game.

Glorious is another good album from them with opener Labracore kicking things into gear nicely with its driving riff and chantalong chorus. In fact, the riffs are pretty high standard throughout here from the stuttering paranoia of the title track through the pounding assault of Knock Knock to the frenetic hardcore blasts of The Night We Defeated God and DK while the bass heavy Call It In shows the band's versatility and Over Tired shows that they can do subtlety as well. Meanwhile, Mikey's vocals remain as dextrous as they've always been varying from croon to scream and back again in the best Faith No More stylee as evidenced on the jerky closer Testing.

Basically, Glorious is a good reminder of everything that makes Mr Shiraz such a unique and good band. Musically impressive and packing a good amount of killer riffs and hooks in there to ensure that the heaviness never outweighs the tunefulness, this is a good introduction to the band for those currently unaware while containing enough good moments to keep long term devotees happy as well. Good stuff.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)