I’ve said this many times in my career of reviewing and photographing bands/artists, but I’ll say it again because its something that always amazes me. Finding new bands/artists that have never crossed your path before still happens on a regular basis, and it always astounds me how frequently it happens too. Crimson Riot have never graced my ears or eyes before, or if they have its an age thing that this memory has been lost somewhere in the vaults of my brain. I’ll also say, what the fuck! How have I been missing out on this Las Vegas trio, and three albums in too!
Time to make up some ground then, and boy is this new album Third Times A Charm, that is due out on 20th March via Leg Lamp Records, gives an entry into Crimson Riot’s music with a hell of a bang. Going back to when I first got my old ass into punk (that will have been around 1976 or so), it was all about disaffected youth, anger with the establishment a la Sex Pistols, The Clash, and a little later on Crass, but that wasn’t all the scene gave me. It was bands like Buzzcocks, The Ramones, The Undertones, and later on Alkaline Trio and Green Day that fed the need for music that had something to say but also had a fucking good tune to lift the gloom. This is what Crimson Riot do in spades, the new album takes you right back to when music was fun but could also fill you with social commentary that hits just the right spot.
From the feedback drop that hits you in the first seconds of the title track ‘Third Times A Charm’ and then Roxy Gunn’s vocal slaps you around the head just like the first time you heard Brodi Dahl, albeit a little smoother round the edges, and then you realise that this is going to be an album you won’t forget easily. It’s a sound that’s not new or different, but put together in a way that it just fucking soars above, I hit repeat several times until I moved on to track two. Then came the musical edginess of ‘Decades’ that is combined with a lyrical delivery that smacks of Tsumani Bomb. It just shows within only two songs just how eclectic this band’s sound is, a good old proper punk rock band.
I’ve only gotten to track three and I’ve already heard enough to start scribbling this album onto my albums of the year list, ‘Mold Age’ is sung by bassist Chris Reject and encapsulates everything that’s great about pop punk past, present and future, a song filled with introspection of life and how fast it goes, yet a song that’s still so damned uplifting. This could quite easily turn into one of those album reviews that just rambles on and on, paragraph after paragraph of song critique, but this is an album that cries out “get the fuck on with it” so I’ll move on to the next thing pronto!
Some moments of pleasure among the many……. ’Cross The Line’ a bomb of a song, sung and played with just as much anger as it deserves, machine gun drums and AK47 guitar backed up with a vocal that is delivered with a vengeance. ‘Crack In Foundation’ is a rat a tat tat, head banger of a tune that speaks of standing by someone regardless of how hard it can be, real people do this. ‘Hears To You’ a ska beat song that would fit right there on an Interruptors album with ease. ‘My Story’ reminded me of a Millie Manders And The Shut Up’ song of a similar name, just as powerful and from the heart. And to finish this life affirming album ‘Broken Neon Lights’ asserts just how serious this band can make a grab for the crown of band of the moment. It’s possibly the least uplifting song on the album, but by no means the least important, in fact it might be the seminal moment of the album placed at the most important point.
I know I had to listen to this album a few times, because review and all that, but I almost forgot to actually write anything, so powerfully did it grip me. A potential album of the year has just been born, this is music that takes you back to your youth, whether that be the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s punk scene. it’s all in here. Third Times A Charm is out on the 20th March, you can go grab your copy here and you can catch up with Crimson Riot on Facebook and via their website. If you’re in Las Vegas then you can catch Crimson Riot live at a free album release show at Henderson, NV’s Grey Witch on the 20th March.
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