Labels: Feral Ward
Review by: Alex Deller
The more I think about it, the more I think this lot’s first LP must have been some sort of aberration. The second album was solid if underwhelming and, while this one’s better than that, it’s still not a patch on the first. How can this be? Why aren’t they improving with age like a bottle of fine old port that has been lovingly and carefully stored in one’s pantry or wine cellar? Is this very question an indication that I’m too detached from punk rock to be able to make sound judgements? Who knows. Who cares. This is solid, though. Nothing’s really changed, and the band’s Blitz-y UK82 sound is still staunch and proud. The songs are fairly catchy and bundle along in a very amiable way. What I think I like best about this “” and it’s an essence they’ve reclaimed from the first record which I think the second maybe missed “” is the attitude. While many of the bands zoning in on this sound tend to focus on the boots n’ braces, kick-in-the-cock rowdiness, Criminal Damage have a strange sense of hope and battered optimism. They sing about anxiety and depression, but as though these things are foes to be conquered rather than miseries to be whiningly endured. There’s a sense of camaraderie and mateship, but not violence or hooliganism. I can dig that. Dig it quite a bit, in fact. But, heck, it’s still not as good as the first damn record. Tsk.