Calling your work “Vol 1” and so on, is always instructive. It signifies a gloriously unfussy approach, a thought that you can give anything whatever fancy title you like, but in the end its only the music that matters.
With Black Bombers, that manifests itself in other ways too. Whilst I don’t like the term “supergroup” because it conjures up all kinds of images of bloated bullshit from days of yore, the point does need making that the three piece are all in other bands (bassist Darren Birch in The Godfathers, Drummer Dave Twist has a long history in Midlands punk and singer/guitarist Alan Byron in Horsefeathers) and the thought that Black Bombers is something with which they can explore for fun is all over this six tracker.
“Day After Day” is a sort of take on garage rock infused in the same Birmingham warehouses that informed Sabbath, say, in a different way, half a century ago. There is something primal, a punk spirit, if you like, about this. But it is rock n roll first and foremost.
The songs have plenty to say. “Relentless” whips up something of a maelstrom, before laying out their manifesto: “Politics, religion” muses Byron “solve the problems in this world, but never mine….” And really can anyone disagree?
“Animals N Cages”, dials the punk up a notch. They’re kicking out the jams here and no mistake, but even if this is only 90 seconds long, then crikey, it hits the nail on the head. “Nothing changes, nothing ever changes. What does it matter, we’re just animals in cages…..” and such nihilism fits the darkness here just fine.
“Gnarly” changes the pace. An instrumental, it is what The Shadows would be if Hank Marvin was ready to do you with a baseball bat at a seconds notice down a back alley.
“Sometimes” deals with the same confusion of modern existence that much of the rest of “Vol 4” has concerned itself with. There is just a hint of The Sonics, too, as the lyrics: “sometimes I feel like death warmed up, sometimes worse. Sometimes I feel there’s no hope at all….” Jar against the music.
And if this dwells on the dark side, then the closing cover of Green On Red’s “Hair Of The Dog” fits perfectly. Made way heavier here, it isn’t too far from something like Therapy? Would knock out.
There is a feel that catharsis was the order of the day on “Vol 4” – and there is much pessimistic about in 21st century Britain, after all. Black Bombers are skilled enough to navigate through it and still entertain.
Rating 8/10
