A new album release from Shut Up Club hits with one hell of Augusto and does so with an outstanding blend of this classic rock and newer garage rock tonality that takes a fuzz tone to the next level, especially with those guitars.
The End Is Near has all the rock and roll sweet spots that you can ask for from righteous riffs and endless energy to hooks both musically and vocally that feels somehow like you've been listening to them on the radio stations for years now.
These guys come in swinging with great attitude and ferocious tones but it's so classic rock-driven that they somehow nail this aesthetic that's a perfect dynamic balance between old and new and that's what amazes me the most.
I don't even want to call it garage or indie rock honestly.
I want to call it classic rock because they just hit that so well and they do so with a lot of different aspects of the release not just one or two.
The way they have the bass and the guitar tones together create such a massive sound sonically that it adds all this extra edginess in drive to some of these songs but the riffs themselves are really what get you.
At least in the beginning that is, as soon as the vocals come in, they get you as well and this is something that isn't reinventing the wheel by any means of course, but it's taking something somewhat familiar and adding their own spin to it, giving it their own life and persona, which is exactly what this record is bursting with. Persona. Character.
This whole thing is brilliantly done and performed with an energy that makes you feel like they recorded this live on the floor because the players are just feeding off of each other the entire time which just gives you this alive and breathing feeling behind the songs.
Even if I'm not right about that, it certainly makes you want to go see these guys live just because they captured such a crazy energy on the record itself.
The vocal attitude is so spot on in terms of the greediness and the melody that it matches with the rest of the band like it was meant to be.
The guitar work is outstanding because it blends this psychedelic rock element into killer solos and big swinging choruses.
This was an excellent record from a band that obviously has a love for their craft and the way they put this release forward was in a familiar but impressive and refreshing manner.
You even get tastes of a sort of 90s underground rock feel at times but they're only hints of that throughout the record.
We need more of this. We need more catchy singable, danceable rock songs with massive hooks and just the right amount of edginess, greediness, color, and character.
In terms of putting out a rock record I'm going to give this a 9 out of 10 easy.
There are songs that stand out a bit as singles, but I would highly suggest listening to this record from beginning to end I'm sure you have a full 18 minutes to do so.
Let's drop the single culture people.
These guys are putting out rock albums and they're meant to be listened to like in the old days when you bought a cassette or a CD or a vinyl record.
This is the league this band is in.
Dive into this record when you can, you won't regret it.