Has it really been seven years since I was last ‘Nagged To Death’ by this Norwegian outfit’s 2nd album? Arriving on vinyl at the time it had a real addictive personality and had the needle skidding across the record at a fast and furious pace. Finally, they are back to deliver another battering across ten pounding numbers spat out at just under the half-hour mark. I took one look at the title here and thought they had nabbed it from Turbonegro but it’s actually a tribute to a 60 branch “run-of-the-mill menswear store” found across their home-country. Whether inspiration was found in the changing room as a hapless member of this trio stumbled around trying to fit into a pair of skinny jeans is uncertain, especially as this has the sound of a crusty bunch whose clothing is held together by safety pins and stitching, but there you go.
The home studio recording has the levels of everything punched up and it adds an abrasiveness to the rabble rousing tracks, giving them a crusty coating of grime. Ripping into the title track one can’t help thinking of UK punk bands of old such as Chaos UK, Discharge and GBH rather than the labels go to of Nails, Converge and All Pigs Must Die. Its full of chugging riffs and hollered out vocals and rips it up in a style that demands pogoing, stage diving and gobbing from basement squat dwellers across the land. ‘Iron Lawn’ trims away with a beat reminding a bit of Nailbomb’s classic ‘24 Hour Bullshit’ before going absolutely haywire and chaotic. ‘Unlimited Power Ballad’ slows things a bit with a post-hardcore slant and corresponding melodicism to match, complete with some backing chants and ‘Cosmic Death’ has plenty of jagged guitar riffs, thick bass and hint of the apocalypse about it.
Whilst there’s no room for mucking about and things are kept lean and mean this hasn’t had quite the impact of its predecessor for me. There’s certainly some bangers on it and a fair bit of catchiness to songs like the swaggering ‘Sheep Like Us’ and amusingly entitled ruction ‘Of Lice And Men’ but it hasn’t quite reeled me in like the band did before. Still nothing too bad about that, the brevity and bluster is still commendable and it’s well worth checking this shop out on the way to the nearest army surplus store.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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