Let’s face it (and without being too jingoistic) when it comes to raunchy rock n’ roll, us Brits do it best. From The Shadows to The Darkness, the UK has an unrivalled lineage of musical miscreants. Of course, this adds a certain weight of expectation to any new group and many bands have buckled under the anticipation of a press who’re always looking for the “next big thing”. Stepping up to the plate (and in some style) are The Hot Damn!, a colourful quartet who’ve been creating waves with their effervescent live show whilst leaving a tantalising trail of singles in their wake. Unleashing their debut album upon an unsuspecting public, Dancing On The Milky Way is sure to wake up the nation and shake the world from its slumber.
Opening in typically confident manner, the album gets off to the best possible start with ‘Fizz Buzz Crash’, it finds the band planting their flag firmly in rock’s fertile soil and it sets a dangerous portent for the coming twelve tracks. Very much in the style of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ or Twisted Sister’s ‘I Wanna Rock’, it is a certified caffeine buzz of a song that’s sure to get the pulses racing and the feet stomping. With a riff that could wake the most ardent somnambulist from their slumber, ‘Fizz Buzz Crash’ is aided by a punchy production and one that throws itself around like a heavyweight brawler and suggests that The Hot Damn! are no shrinking violets. With this song on your headphones, you’ll magically transform into the most popular person at the party or coolest kid in the class…which is exactly how good rock music should make you feel.
As the world continues to be plagued by war, pestilence and famine, what the we need more than ever is a good time rock n’ roll band to lighten the mood somewhat, and it feels as if The Hot Damn! have come to fill the void. Us critics have a tendency to over-analyse music sometimes, so it is best to take ‘Dance Around’ on face value and accept it for what it is; a great, great, great, great song. Doing exactly what it says on the tin, ‘Dance Around’ will have all but the infirm and frail strutting their stuff and shaking their tush. In fact, if there’s anything that unites these twelve tracks, it is a strange kind of dance-ability; they’re hard, yet melodic, with the band beating a unique tattoo upon your memory bank to ensure they won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
The songs which comprise Dancing On The Milky Way don’t overstay their welcome or over egg the pudding; they’re just long enough to sate your appetite but leave you hungry for more. That means that this is the type of album that’ll have you returning time and time again, but when the songs are as good as those on Dancing On The Milky Way, that’s no hardship.
- Dancing On The Milky Way is released via Fat Earth Records and is available now.
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Track List:
- Fizz Buzz Crash
- Dance Around
- Jukebox On The Radio
- I Didn’t Like You Anyway
- DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
- Going Down
- Automatic
- Live Laugh Love
- About Last Night
- Loud And Clear
- Can You Hear Me Now?
- Sticky Clubs
