London’s Dog Heaven come blazing in with a very solid album here, mixing up various punk angles to good effect. There’s the barreling drive of the eponymous opener (which oddly reminds me of 90s Northern Irish pop punk band Joyrider, there’s a very old skool CZ reference for you, fact fans). Things move on into the garagey blaze of “Kiss Me (I’m A Toad)”, which flashes by in 96 seconds. And then follows “Gone Too Long” which slows things right down. And that’s just the first three tracks. Dog Heaven tend not to settle into one particular mode for too long at any stage during this record. One lo-fi track is just vocals and a bit of guitar strumming, then when done it instantly kicks into another full blooded punker.
I do tend to find my favourite albums are more cohesive than records like this. But there’s a lot to be said for letting your creativity and influences run wild. Oddly enough, on the noisier tracks I keep coming back to that Joyrider comparison I made earlier. No idea why as I haven’t listened to them in twenty years and only have a vague, mangled version of what they sound like in my head these days. There you go. Dog Heaven, a Joyrider for 2021. That’ll sell them loadsa records. Just need to do a Rush Hour cover and break the top 40 now.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2429236571 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]