Review: Sros Lords - Rule
Detroit, as we know, is a hotbed of raw, unbridled punk'n'roll, a legacy from the Stooges and MC5 et al. That reputation doesn't seem to waning with the likes of Sros Lords and their 'slimernetik' punk (nope, me neither, but after you listen to the album, the name does make sense). I may not know what slimernetik actually means, but I do know that the Sros Lords have produced one of the most exhilarating albums of the year.
Sros Lords (Sros is an acronym for Site Rite Optical Studio, the building in which guitarist/vocalist Morgan used to live and in which the band used to practice ) play an exciting blend of raw, unbridled garage punk but with a heavy synth presence....imagine Coachwhips with keyboards. The songs are short and to the point. Talking to drummer Jamie, several names cropped up in relation to the band's sound...early US electropunks The Screamers (this is a very apt comparison), Big Black and Jeff The Brotherhood. There is a touch of Big Black about some of the tracks...maybe not the crushing brutality but definitely some nuances of Steve Albini's hammer crew! However, to make comparisons feels as though I'm doing the band a disservice.....they have worked hard to carve out their own niche and distinct sound.
Essentially a three piece (Jamie Cherry - drums, Cait Ash - keyboards and Morgan Blank - guitar and vocals), they describe themselves as a "symptom of the Detroit scene" and there's no denying the garage influence on the album - not the 'safe' garage of, say, The White Stripes, but the edgier, raw stuff of the aforementioned Coachwhips (in fact, Sros Lords could be the natural successors to John Dwyer's current band Thee Oh Sees), The Oblivions, The Gories or Jon Spencer's more unpolished offerings. The guitar is loud with plenty of fuzz and distortion and when Jamie hits the drums, they stay hit! What sets Sros Lords apart is the addition of the synths which give the music another dimension altogether. There is always a danger when adding synths that they dull or somehow diminish the integral power, but not in this case, the warped synth lines only add to the overall sound and give it a mutoid, sci-fi dimension. So I suppose it comes as no surprise that 'Slow Death' was inspired by a 70s comic book. The lyrics move between the absurd to the meaningful, with 'Hour Of The Time' touching on subversive politics, and 'Baby Centipede' about...well...a baby centipede.
The album rattles through 13 tracks in under half an hour, but I guarantee it will be one of the most enjoyable half hours you will have...this is an album that needs to be cranked up loud so you can pogo around the living room. 'Rule' is available from Earyummy Records, Amazon, and iTunes.
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