Album Review: The City Kids - "Filth"

 

Formed by former Main Grains guitarist JJ Watt, I have to admit that I'd not been entirely convinced by the City Kids thus far. They'd shown a little bit of promise here and there but compared to some of the genuinely good Britrock bands who've emerged on to the scene in the last couple of years, they seemed to be lacking that extra something to put them up there as genuine contenders.

With Filth though, they may just have made a proper mission statement. The band the group remind me of on the opening title track is actually the Anti-Nowhere League, part-punk, part-biker rock with the snarled vocals and chugging riffs showing the band at their strongest and tighest so far. Alone is similarly high quality with its panic rush of a chorus and flashbomb guitar pyrotechnics and It Should've Been You shows that they can do melodic as well. Heartbreak definitely owes a nod to Social Distortion (certainly JJ's vocals are nicely pitched somewhere halfway between Mike Ness and Lemmy on this album) and Scars could easily have been a Renaissance Men era Wildhearts number with its gang chant vocals and sense of tightness and urgency.

Side two (well, if albums these days still had sides but you get my drift) is similarly solid with Self-Righteous and Something Faster being mid-paced bruisers, You Wanna? being reminiscent of JJ's old band the Main Grains, Ghosts being powered along by a driving riff and a big gang chant chorus before Yesterday signs this one off in suitably anthemic fashion.

I'd say the City Kids have properly arrived with this album which has definitely shown them as a force to be reckoned with. Those with a love of scuzzy grubby rock 'n' roll that conjures up images of pork scratchings, Castrol GTX and pogoing your guts out in sweatbox venues will no doubt find plenty to enjoy here.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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