Review Summary: A modern day New York Dolls
The other day while I was wandering around my local Value Village on the hunt for some bargain price CD’s to expand my collection, I stumbled upon an unwrapped CD that stated
Durban Poison – Stereophonic Tonic . Instantly curious, I bought it and popped it in my stereo on the way home. To my surprise, it was completely what I had expected. Good old classic punk reminiscent of early Ramones and New York Dolls. I was surprised to find out the band was local as well. Nevertheless, I was hooked.
Three chord riffs reign supreme throughout this album without a doubt. Audible bass is present throughout the majority of the album, frantic, simple drumming and minimalistic melodies are scattered galore. Pretty much anything you would expect from a classic punk album is here. Some could argue this is could be it’s downfall, but Durban Poison pulls it off so well, it’s hard not to enjoy. The CD itself is relatively short, clocking in just under 30 minutes. But it’s just enough to keep your attention throughout. The only main problem I have with this album is that the lyrics are pretty much indecipherable to the common ear (much like a true punk album should be) and if you can get past that and enjoy the music as a whole, you should have no problem with this.
If you’ve heard any Ramones or New York Dolls albums, you know what to expect here, and I use that term strongly as there isn’t much point reviewing every single aspect of the album, seeing as it’s so mind-numbingly simple. That however, is no complaint. This album is so strongly reminiscent of the two bands I’ve mentioned earlier, you could easily mistake one for another if you didn’t know what you were listening to. If you can find it on the internet, definitely give it a listen or buy it off iTunes. The band knows what they’re doing and perform it superbly. If you like punk at all, you should listen to this, and by punk, I mean real punk. If you think I’m talking about Sum 41 or blink-182 you can go f** off because this my friends, is what
real punk is supposed be.
