Album Review: Ming City Rockers - "Lime"

 

Hailing from Immingham near Grimsby (hence their name), the Ming City Rockers briefly looked like quite hot property a few years ago with their debut self-titled album being a prime slice of howled smalltown angst which picked them up enough plaudits to get Steve Albini in to produce the follow-up, 2016's Lemon. And then...nothing.

Seven years on from that sophomore effort and the group have returned, slimmed down to a three-piece and with a very noticeable change to their image. But the sound is very much the same with the sort of angry three-chord garage punk that made their debut such a good effort. The change seems to be that Lime sees the Ming City Rockers taking their worldview out of the smalltowns and over to the nation as a whole. The sarky lead off single Jill Was An Anarchist was a definite marker laid down and there's plenty more on Lime where that came from such as the snarling Poor Old Jim taking a swipe at alcoholic F*r*ge-supporting boomers ("He used to be a punk but now he's fallen for a c**t"). Desperate is even better still with its cavalcading drums and buzzsaw guitars being reminiscent of the Buzzcocks which isn't a compliment to throw around lightly. Nancy I'm Bitter is another which definitely conjures up memories of Pete Shelley with its searing look at dysfunctional relationships before former single Infectious blasts through in 95 seconds of frenetic punk thrash.

Another Head sees the group drop the tempo to a fuzzed-up thrash which sounds like PIL crossed with Dos Dedos Mi Amigos era Pop Will Eat Itself. Void kicks in with a rumbling Paul Gray style bassline before picking itself up into a sinister scuzzy low-slung assault which again shows that this is a band with an impressive versatility to their sound. Paul sees the group pick the tempo back up with another soaring slice of power-pop (complete with Beach Boys/Barracudas style "ba ba ba"'s in the chorus) before The Ballad Of Sue & Steve sees the band go for a more measured approach with an almost psychedelic approach. It doesn't quite sit together as well as some of the other tunes but the innovation's definitely to be applauded. The frenetic Lollipopper (which has some vocals which bizarrely remind me of Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys in places) and the lurching Strangers (similar to a poppier version of Bleach era Nirvana) then guide this one home in good style.

After a break this long, the Ming City Rockers needed something good to get back into their groove here and happily with Lime they've delivered it nicely. Summing up the best bits of their classic sound and adding a few new tricks in to make sure it's not too predictable, this is the sound of these snotty garage-punks coming of age in style. Good stuff.

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NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)