01. Crash City
02. Needle Damage
03. Watch Me Melt
04. Go Baby Go
05. Systematic Way
06. Waiting For You
07. Self Destruction
08. Hooligans Prayer
California's Demolition City Saints have recently unleashed their debut album, Lords Of The Wasteland, onto the world, and it's currently one of the best surprises of 2018. I hadn't heard of them until a few days ago, and now I'm completely hooked.
Their line-up consists of two lead vocalists, Melody Black (lead vox on tracks 1,3,5 & 6) and Baby Strange (lead vox on tracks 2, 4 & 7), guitarist TK Razors, bassist Kid Raven and drummer Darkblade. With Goth-as-Fuck stage names like those and that really cool comic book style cover art, I really wanted to like them before I even pressed the play button on this album. Fortunately, they didn't let me down.
The album opens with the impressive slab of Gothic Punk, Crash City, which has some nice clean-tone guitars over the driving chords, giving it an 80's 'post-apocalyptic' vibe. It's certainly a great start to the record.
Needle Damage is more of a high-octane aggressive number, with some Punk riffage reminiscent of T.S.O.L at their most frantic.
Watch Me Melt is a more upbeat track and takes the album into the terrotory of Pop Punk with its Ramones-meets-The Dollyrots approach.
Arguably the song on this record which is the most likely to be a hit and gatecrash the mainstream is Go Baby Go, with its Glam Rock stomp and extremely catchy chorus. It's like Blondie, Garbage, and Joan Jett all rolled into one!
Systematic Way provides a more laid back moment on the album, and has some sweet Pop melodies too.
Waiting For You takes the band into a slightly more 'Classic Rock' direction with some huge, effect-soaked guitar riffs. This heavier tone is continued in Self Destruction, which also has some cool Electronica mixed with the drums. It has one of those happy sounding choruses with sad lyrics, which reminds me of The Wildhearts, or even Unmasked-era Kiss if Paul Stanley was on a downer. It's a really catchy song and is certainly one of this album's highlights.
Lords Of The Wasteland ends with the spoken word piece Hooligans Prayer, which serves as a defiant call to arms and rounds off the record nicely.
Clocking in at 21 minutes, it could be argued that Lords Of The Wasteland is more of a mini-album that a full length opus, but it's a superb, filler-free debut that's easily enjoyed in its entirety. It also makes me wonder what this band could do with a major label behind them. Hopefully they'll get the opportunity to find out one day.
Watch Me Melt is a more upbeat track and takes the album into the terrotory of Pop Punk with its Ramones-meets-The Dollyrots approach.
Arguably the song on this record which is the most likely to be a hit and gatecrash the mainstream is Go Baby Go, with its Glam Rock stomp and extremely catchy chorus. It's like Blondie, Garbage, and Joan Jett all rolled into one!
Systematic Way provides a more laid back moment on the album, and has some sweet Pop melodies too.
Waiting For You takes the band into a slightly more 'Classic Rock' direction with some huge, effect-soaked guitar riffs. This heavier tone is continued in Self Destruction, which also has some cool Electronica mixed with the drums. It has one of those happy sounding choruses with sad lyrics, which reminds me of The Wildhearts, or even Unmasked-era Kiss if Paul Stanley was on a downer. It's a really catchy song and is certainly one of this album's highlights.
Lords Of The Wasteland ends with the spoken word piece Hooligans Prayer, which serves as a defiant call to arms and rounds off the record nicely.
Clocking in at 21 minutes, it could be argued that Lords Of The Wasteland is more of a mini-album that a full length opus, but it's a superb, filler-free debut that's easily enjoyed in its entirety. It also makes me wonder what this band could do with a major label behind them. Hopefully they'll get the opportunity to find out one day.
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