Black Furies

The Black Furies are very good at being a fairly unremarkable rock 'n' roll band. That's not meant as a slight at all, as this is fantastically fun, high octane garage punk and a worthy addition to your collection, it's just so unassuming. Black Furies is a clockwork Gearhead band, and there's not a lot that stands out to distinguish them from labelmates like Lords of Altamont and the Hellacopters or similarly minded acts like Electric Frankenstein, Turbonegro, Backyard Babies or Maximum RNR. There's certainly no lack of skill involved, as their ability to pull off hooky, perfectly formed rock songs (killer guitar solos naturally included) is remarkably consistent; it just feels restrained.

There's a huge Dictators influence here and it shines through both Cliff Trusdell's vocals and Clint Blatchford's prominent guitar sound. The band also knows their way around an anthem, and there's no better driving music than "Murder City Shakedown," "Stagger Lee" or "Saturday Night Death Drip." Blatchford sings lead on "One for Nothing," his voice a shade more `70s punk than Truesdell's hard rock growl. It's a nice change of pace, and perhaps indicative of what's lacking on Death Trip Saturday Night. The Black Furies need to pitch a few more curveballs and maybe allow themselves to get a little weird and sloppy. That's the problem with precision really, it doesn't offer much in the way of surprises.

I've had Death Trip Saturday Night thrown in rotation for a while, and while it's not particularly provocative it's a great summer rock record. The band's whole game plan seems to be on the table though, and nothing would be cooler than hearing them fuck with the formula in the future.