aaamusic | On 08, Oct 2010

Having previously released songs about being attacked by Cats and apparently being influenced by Optimus Prime and space exploration it would be easy to pigeonhole Dinosaur Pile Up as a band with not much to say. And how bad would that be? Surely not every band has to make grand statements on every song? Not every band has to try and mean something right? Wrong, and anyone who believes that needs to stop being so cynical. Dinosaur Pile Up may not say as much as, say, Frank Turner, but they don’t need to in order to be a genuinely meaningful band.

A lot of the comparisons Dinosaur Pile Up have courted have lead to them being called either grunge revivalists or, less charitably, Nirvana copyists, and to be honest they have a point, they definitely can wield the ferocious power that Nirvana could play with, see lead single Birds and Planes for how awesomely heavy they can get. However a much more pertinent comparison would be Ash, a perfect mix of melody, power chords and consistently switching from a lyrical outlook of teenage optimism and teenage angst. However, the Pile Up can spread that awesomeness consistently over a great album, specifically this show stopper of a record. Something that Wheeler and co never could quite achieve.

The aforementioned Birds and Planes kicks off the record on such a high that one doubts that the next track can even hope to top it for sheer kick-your-teeth-in adrenaline, it’s pretty much the summation of where the Pile Up are now, and was the most perfect lead single the band could ask for. Barce-Loner follows up with what Hate To Say I Told You So by The Hives should have sounded like when it was covered by Foo Fighters. Never That Together is probably the most pop moment on the album reminiscent of Pearl Jam covering Please Please Me by The Beatles to a great effect.

And so the album goes on, it rarely strays from its ridiculously exciting, jump-around-your-bedroom-screaming-the-lyrics sound, save for slightly misjudged slow burner Hey You that needs multiple listening to really get and yet still sits at odds with its full steam ahead brethren, but as a whole this is a total triumph. It may have a retro sound, but this is no ironic revival or shamefaced copy, this is rock n roll at its finest, it’s self expression, it’s fun and it’s going to sound fucking ace live. It’s bastard cool with a brain to match, it’s Dinosaur Pile Up, if there’s any justice in the world, they are going to be huge.

Author: Will Howard