aaamusic | On 22, Oct 2012

Not gonna lie, soul-punk played by vampires is one gimmick that could make me listen to absolutely anything by absolutely anyone, but let’s be honest here, the chances of this being anything other than a whole heap of fun for a couple of listens and an insane live show are rather slim to say the least. However, you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I’d rather have a band that are amazingly good fun for a couple of nights than one who tries desperately hard to mean something and fails miserably, but there is also absolutely nothing worse than party music that fails to start a party, hence why LMFAO continue to laugh in the face of natural selection. So where this particular record sits is a difficult question to answer, as this is a whole bunch of fun for a very small amount of people, and a whole lot more will have no idea what’s going on. Fortunately enough, whatever people have to say about this, the people who take this to heart are going to absolutely love it.

As a punk band with added brass in the line up the obvious comparison is with a little group by the name of Rocket From The Crypt, the single most “cult” cult band of all time (to the extent that fans with tattoos of their logo got into all their shows for free) and it makes sense until one realises that Thirst is even more ramshackle than Rocket From The Crypt ever were, which is saying a lot. Every song seems to be held together by blind faith and it’s own scum, drums are primal and simple, organ and brass spread themselves over the tracks like damp and singer Carter Sharp screeches and sneers in a way that suggests he knows and loves the fact that he’s going to piss a lot of people off. It’s loud, brash and proudly up in your grille that’s for damn sure, but as I said before, anyone looking for songs before the final quarter of the album are going to leave not so much dissapointed as annoyed. The final couple of tracks, especially the ecstatic closer Viodrene, which is the only track that actually does sound like the perfect mix between the energy and chaos of punk and the passion and brass section of soul, do pick things up considerably but it’s too little too late. An interesting experiment might be to find the nearest puritan that thinks Rock music has lost its edge and play this to them, as chances are this is what Punk sounded like to most rock fans back in the day, a bunch of kids proudly not giving a fuck, and chances are they’ll hate it.

So not for everyone then, but it never wanted to be so there’s no real issue here. The people who get this will absolutely adore this and those who don’t will despise it… but what do I think? Truth be told I think it’s a fascinating concept that was created for the live arena, but the more I listen to Carter Sharp’s scrathy howl the more I want to punch inanimate objects so I can’t say I recommend this to the end of the world, but this was never meant to reach the end of the world. So a litmus test for those who claim to like confrontational music. Sounds about right.

★★★★★

Will Howard