The Vermin - Joe's Shanghai

My Love/Hate relationship with the Vermin continues on unabatted, this time leaning heavily in the direction of the former more than the latter. This CD was like 8 years in the making, and at about the 0:24 mark of the opening track (Boredom Was The Reason) you're glad that they waited as long as they did to release this. This is sooooooo fucking good! Such a blistering, brass knuckle punch to the face. This CD is a godsend from these Vegas "Legends", and it's much appreciated. Dirk's raspy, whiskey soaked bark has lost none of it's sarcastic, venomous, lethal bite, and his guitar work is just as good as it's ever been. Interpret that in any way you see fit. :-) He's no Brian James, but he wishes he was Eddie Van Halen. Go figure. Turbo and Ruckus power the Vermin machine with tight as fuck rhythm rides, dead spot-on stops and starts, and beefy, thick, fat riffs that will have you nodding your head along to the sound. Both of those guys can play the fuck out of their respective instruments, and it definitely shows in this batch of punk tuneage. The Vermin can speed things up ala early China White or the Weirdos, but their real forte is mining from the same motherlode as bands like The Damned did before them. The fast ones (All Of This And Caffeine Too, Go For The Throat) sit alongside nicely to the mid-paced jams like Molotov and You Got A Problem (great song). Where's Nikki? reminds me of being at the Double Down at 4 in the morning after the usual Saturday night shenanigans. Lots of obscure references and funny ass lyrics too. Wearing High Karate in my Maserati / Belting out Punk like I'm Pavarotti... typical Dirk Vermin lyrical content and I love it! LOL This is such a fucking fantastic, great release from The Vermin. Major Kudos to them. Everywhere I go, I see people with this CD in their collection, and I always ask them what they think about the album. I have yet to hear anyone say anything negative about it. It's that good. Pick this up if you haven't already. Let's hope it doesn't take them another 8 years to make another CD this good. Fantastic release.

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