Airbourne Breakin’ Outta Hell
With AC/DC on the skids, comfort came from Airbourne’s soundalike title track of their latest album, conceived as a release valve for the repressed working man. “Breakin’ Outta Hell is for everybody that’s having a hard time,” explains Joel O’Keeffe. “Rock’n’roll is your one-way ticket out.”
The Cadillac Three Party Like You
The Nashville trio smashed it with second album Bury Me In My Boots, and this leering dirt-blues was the kind of tune you hear thudding within a deep-south roadhouse while you’re vomiting moonshine through your nostrils in the parking lot. In a good way.
Dan Patlansky Stop The Messin’
“It’s a sexy note to a woman, telling her to let loose in the bedroom,” explained the South African bandleader, but this revved-up funk-blues standout from Introvertigo could also accompany car chases and punch-ups.
Ulysses Law And Order
Any fears that rock had run out of solid-gold choruses were assuaged when the Bath nostalgists released this throwback stomper. With swooning West Coast harmonies, police sirens, skidding cars, broken bottles
and broiling drums, it’s a tune looking for a riot to soundtrack.
Crobot Welcome To Fat City
A tune as meaty as its title, this heavy-blues juggernaut found the Pennsylvanians on pummelling form. Chris Bishop’s riff blows the doors off, but it’s frontman Brandon Yeagley who owns Welcome To Fat City, shrieking the come-hither chorus like a manic Pied Piper.
The Sore Losers Cherry Cherry
These Belgians’ breakthrough Skydogs was a winning splice of punk and heavy rock, and this lascivious gem leans hard towards the MC5. ‘Come on, cherry cherry, let’s get it on!’ leers frontman Jan Straetemans – even though shagging at this tempo is patently impossible.
