The long-awaited debut album from Astoria\/Babyshambles Riot veterans the Skuzzies is a largely fat-free feast, which could, perhaps fittingly, have been named after its urgent opener, \u2018Hungry As A Hound\u2019. Aside from a spot of arts lab fun with some atmospherics at the end of the Doors-cadenced \u2018Heartache Accelerate\u2019, the South London trio are generally, in and out, pulling off the blag with a minimum of poncing about.<\/p>\n
Indeed, although the involvement of riot catalyst Pete Doherty will undoubtedly draw curious thrill-seekers towards The Skuzzies, the album stands squarely on its own merit, so one would hope that some of Pete\u2019s People will have the kidneys to stick around. The disc inhabits the compellingly, er, skuzzy region where the grimy end of glam rubs up against the less ideological bit of punk. And it does so rather well \u2013 often the no-frills rock\u2019n\u2019roll animus teeters mesmerically on the precipice of its own gravity well, but these are no one chord wonders, they also offer much substance and depth.<\/p>\n
Whereas \u2018More Than This\u2019 represents the direct Skuzzie template, standout track \u2018The Unknown Principle\u2019 is one of several that abstract this into recombinant forms of retro-futurism; sallow junkies pawn sputniks for cash to buy alien drugs brought back from beyond the Wub, the future, the present and the past collide amid chorus infused psych, juxtaposed against a pounding chorus and finished off with Jerome Alexandre\u2019s cynically broken vocals.<\/p>\n
Tracks such as \u2018Brompton Cocktail\u2019 (do not operate heavy machinery) evokes the neon-lit underside of Junk City before detonating in Heartbreaker fashion, while \u2018Are You Sleeping\u2019 rolls wistfully in like a \u2018Lazy Sunday Afternoon\u2019 for the tastefully toasted. This is a pretty medicined album, but this hardly means that the group have blunted their edge upon a Chinese rock \u2013 \u2018Shotgun Romance\u2019 climbs, swoops and soars toward its exultant climax, \u2018Dissatisfied\u2019 matches kitchen sink glottal skank against jackhammer rhythms, and although \u2018Rich Kids\u2019 begins with some guitar plinkery that wouldn\u2019t be out of place on a Chili Peppers album, amends are immediately made by a savage, hook-heavy demonstration of proper nasty rock\u2019n\u2019roll that scarcely gives one time to wonder why it turned into \u2018Ghost Town\u2019 for a couple of bars.<\/p>\n
Nah, the Skuzzies don\u2019t need Doherty, but you may need them.<\/p>\n