Amyl and The Sniffers
Comfort To Me
**** out of *****
The quartet (Amy Taylor- vocals, Bryce Wilson- drums, Dec Martens- guitar, Gus Romer- bass) have enhanced their sound, widened their scope and delivered a fierce record. Opener and first single "Guided By Angels" uses a low pumping start, supplemented with surf guitar riffs and Taylor's artsy lyrics yelled over and over before a crashing finale; it is a wake up call.
The group can mix straight up rock style with a harder edge, sometimes in the same song as "Freaks To The Front" manages to recall both Minor Threat and Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", a neat trick. The group is crucially tight, but Taylor stands out as a modern day front woman who delivers anthems for freedom of choice on the slamming aptly named "Choices" while getting down the filthy meat and flesh on "Maggot", which also contains some great bass work from Romer.
The group turns on a Buzzcocks vibe for some of their best efforts as "Security" finds Taylor looking for love in the pub around catchy riffs while "Don't Fence Me In" points the band in a bit of a dance direction. Martens cooks up some top notch solos on both the get out of dodge tune "Hertz" and the grinding "Capital" where Taylor takes aim at consumerism's failings.
The band brings urgency to topics like these and Taylor always seem engaged but at times things can can fall a bit flat like on "No More Tears" and the dull "Knifey" which runs on too long. These songs aside the band kicks major ass throughout the thirteen tune effort as tracks like the blistering "Don't Need A Cunt (Like You To Love Me)" shake off any doubts a listener may have.
A strong second album from Amyl and The Sniffers, as Comfort To Me will be a comfort to many punk fans worldwide.
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