Review Summary: "But I just love the life I lead, another beer is what I need, another gig my ears bleed."
If you play AC/DC a little faster and a little harsher then the result is the same experience to listening to Airbourne; and if you’ve heard 5 minutes of Airbourne material then you’ve essentially heard their entire musical career. Just like their aforementioned mentors, the Australian quartet has found their own style that works perfectly and four albums later they are still continuing to streamline their sound with engaging intentions.
With 40 minutes worth of riffs that don’t stop dancing until the morning after and lyrics that encourage drinking, sex, law-breaking and general hell-raising, the resounding message of “Breakin’ Outta Hell’ is to “stick it to the man”. Literally every stereotypical theme of rock ‘n’ roll can also be unearthed on their fourth album. There’s an ode to drinking booze and getting wasted on ‘When I Drink I Go Crazy’, an ode to worshipping rock music on the closer (and tribute to our fallen lord and saviour, Lemmy Kilmister), on ‘It’s All For Rock and Roll’. You can also find the classic clichéd message of ***-whoever-is-in-charge during ‘Rivalry’, and the crudely narrative poetry in ‘Do Me Like You Do Yourself’ which tells a tale of a young man listening to, and imagining, some damsel masturbating in her room next door is… rather self explanatory really.
As for the lively men that your neighbours have grown to despise, it’s safe to say that they also haven’t altered a bit. David Roads’ riffs are so simple but so effective in making the music sound energetic and Ryan O’Keeffe’s drums stick to the same formula of adding an explosive liveliness to the music. Justin Street provides backing vocals as often as any particular sing-a-long line that a song may require but it’s Joel O’Keefe’s vocals that stand front, centre and above all else; he continues his “shout everything” singing approach that subliminally orders you to crank up the volume even more.
“Breakin’ Outta Hell” sees the return of Bob Marlette who originally produced Airbourne’s debut album, “Runnin’ Wild”, in 2007. And funnily enough, his tactics have also not changed at all. The lively music that Airbourne have mastered speaks for itself when referring to the animated nature and wild lyrics so all that’s left for Marlette to do is make it sound even more macho, which he easily nails. Each track is cram-packed with character that underlines Aribourne’s distinctive sound and while the songs may thematically be similar, it doesn’t feel like any songs are filler or unnecessary.
With Motorhead gone, there aren’t many bands that can sing about things like cunnilingus (zero points for guessing which song that one is) or masturbation in such an unblushing fashion while the crowd recites every word back to them live. “Breakin’ Outta Hell’ is absolutely no different to anything Airbourne have ever created but the fact that these songs are as catchy as Chlamydia is effectively the band’s main strength. Whether it’s banging your head between beers or just tapping your foot while fighting a hangover, no one can possibly sit still while listening to this album.
