| CD REVIEW Airbourne |
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Band : Airbourne Slightly less than two years after the worldwide release of their debut album (for comprehensive history-of-the-band check review posted 28/02/2008; for subsequent stories also check reviews of singles posted 31/03, 16/04 and 16/11, all in 2008) outside of their home continent (where EMI had issues Runnin’ Wild in June of 2007), the young Australian pack of hungry wolves known as Airbourne are back with a sophomore album, and like with the debut album, Roadrunner again goes nuts with the release dates…or at least, so it seems, because in Europe the album’s release is planned to happen àfter the band’s passing through each separate country! You see, the band has gotten a deal with their label, whereby they get a chance to sell their albums at their shows prior to the official release…a deal which they were able to get thanks to the fact that albums sold that way are now also eligible for chart counts. On the positive side, this deal brings more money in the pockets of both the band and label, as a major benefit-eater (namely the distributor) is cut out of the equasion. On the negative side, record stores may see their sales drop somewhat, even though I’m sure quite a few fans already waited for the band’s live appearances in their neighborhood to get their copy of an album, with the sole purpose of supporting “their” band to the max (“hardcore” fans, is what they call that kind of dedicated people). Just like on their debut album, Airbourne faithfully continues the legacy of ground-breaking Australian Pub Rock bands such as AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, and The Angels. The wonderful thing about Airbourne is that they are vocally better than the first mentioned (more variety, even if the screamed vocals are prevalent), and that they’re instrumentally just as good as all three! Genre purists (of the other kind) might start buggin’ about “bein’ contemporary”, or the music being “rather simple in build”, but the strength of this type of music lays exactly there! In the fact that it is simple in build but catchy-to-the-gills, and that it is remeniscent to old bands in spite of also being something of its own (no actual simple copy-catting here, mate!). There’s a story behind the recording of the new album which is worth telling, as it shows the dedication these lads from Down Under have for their music. By the time they were ready to travel to producer Johnny K’s) studios (K is known from his previous associations with 3 Doors Down, Stained, Machine Head, and Disturbed in Chicago, the band had heard the story of how Bruce Springsteen and his band had lived in the studio during the recordings of their first albums…and taking inspiration from that, the guys matted down each night in the studio (rather than spend the label’s money by sleeping in expensive hotels). This way, the guys could grab their instruments right after having rubbed their eyes after waking up, and get right down to the fun! Another thing different from the debut album, is the way the band recorded the new album. You see, rather than record everything in seperate and confined rooms, the guys kept the doors open. On top, the microphones were spread over the rooms in quite an arbitrary way, allowing for, for example, guitar to blend into the drum mike…making for a very “live” sound overall (something which was even mmore enhanced by recording to analog tape, rather than digitally, with computers)! At this very moment, the only track off the new album you can listen to at the band’s MySpace page (myspace.com/airbourne) is “No Way But The Hard Way”, a song dedicated to the band’s early days in Melbourne, when they were roughing it an living on welfare, surviving on a steady diet of booze, barbeque, and Rock…and possibly the first single to be culled from the album! Only one song? Yeah! May not be much, but then you already know what you’re gonna get when you put down your monet to buy the album, don’t you mate? Another “dedicated” song (not on the MySpace music player, is “Steel Town”, a tribute to some of the band’s most excessive fans (apparently large amounts of booze, outrageously wild music lovers, and bar fights go hand-in-hand in such towns). Outside these dedicated songs, the album counts 11 more fun tracks (and with “Blond, Bad And Beautiful” already mentioned in both the label’s biography that came with the download promo copy of the album, and on the band’s website airbourne.com – where some artwork was already posted – we can expect that to be the next single, I suppose…time will tell!), each and every one as catchy as the other, and making it impossible for me to give No Guts, No Glory anything else but a perfect rating and nomination into my “Best Albums Of 2010” year-list! Right…one more little thing you need to know: the band sets off on a European tour on February 22, and does that from Antwerp’s Hof Ter Lo (for a full list of the dates in France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Holland, and the UK…where the band has a complete tour…check out the band’s MySpace page or own website). If you are nót one of the 600 people who’ve already bought their ticket to witness Airbourne’s 2nd passage through Belgium in just as many years, I advise you not to wait too long to get yours as well, because this time around (their first visit to Belgium attracting only a mere 200 people, due to the fact that the album wasn’t out yet so nobody knew the band, due also to lacking advertising campaign, and that same day several other big concerts happening in bigger venues) you may not find it possible to buy tickets at the gate! Of course, nothing can stop you to try anyway, and perhaps you’ll be able to sniff up some of the atmosphere from within the venue? 98/100 Tony. |