Dirt Mall-Got the goat by the horns

Daykamp
2007


This is the debut album from "The world famous Dirt Mall rock & roll band" or at least that's what it says on the inside of the CD case. Judging from the album title and the liner notes I immediately liked the band's sense of humor, but the real matter at hand was what was the music like? Well, it's a somewhat low-key, stripped down approach that mostly incorporates elements of 70's hard rock, plain rock and older punk rock influences. The influences blend together pretty well because they take their time and don't try to force things too much. I love the guitar sound as it's smooth yet thick enough that it has an edge to it. The vocals work nicely too as Johnny Anguish sounds a little like a cross between Bon Scott and Metal Mike Saunders of the Angry Samoans. The overall effect of their music is that it manages to be both familiar enough that you are drawn in right away yet at their best the songs are just slightly different enough to make you really notice them. It's obvious that they are comfortable with what they are doing and that's a big plus. The downside here is they become a little too repititious at times and sometimes they don't have enough hooks down the stretch. This gives the impression that they are running out of ideas before the end of the song. It only happens a few times, but it's a slight drawback. My hope is they keep working at it and maybe add some more of the humor into the mix as well.

http://www.myspace.com/dirtmall