Music Reviews: The Wrong Boyfriends - "Wrong Fucking Century Darling"

Being able to write reviews has given me access to so many bands from all over the world. I'm grateful to get the chance to hear bands I may not have had the chance to hear otherwise. And The Wrong Boyfriends are one of those bands. They are a cool band from Helensburgh, Scotland who play what I would consider 60's inspired punk rock. Others may not be able to categorize the bands sound. But I'll do my best to describe it as such.

The bands newest album "Wrong Fucking Century Darling" is 13 tracks of garage rock, post punk and hardcore music mixed together to make an exciting album. The album kicks off with the instrumental "Le Chroma". It features jangly distorted guitars, an easy mellow back beat and even some mild keyboards just for good measure. If upon hearing this track you think that this is the what the rest of the album will sound like, you're dead wrong. It goes into the next track "Boats" with it's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" sounding guitar attack and Stooges sounding vocal approach that's a complete 180 degree turn from the opener. You can see this band takes it's influences seriously on this album.

"Dreadnought" is by far the heaviest track on the album. Riff heavy and angry, this song is a standout for all you hardcore fans out there who only want in your face and pissed off music. But the band, Sean (vocals/guitar), Peter (bass) and Dom (drums), are not afraid to take on post punk with songs like "These Days", "Scientist" and "Coming Up For Air". There's even the Lou Reed sounding "Taking Turns On Sharon" which is kinda twisted lyrically, but musically brilliant. But even with trying to have a sound all their own, the influence is noticeable on most of these tracks which can be either a blessing or a curse depending on who the listener is. Between the groove heavy riffs, keyboards and just an all around garage style sound, the band definitely has a modern sound with 60's swing, which I think is kinda cool. Garage rock will never go out of style if done right.

I never had a problem with bands using their musical influences as a blueprint for their own originality. As long as it's not an apparent ripoff, it's flattering. But next time around I wanna hear more original and less of what's already available from The Wrong Boyfriends. I can hear the talent they possess. I just hope they can break out and truly make a record that all their own. All in all "Wrong Fucking Century Darling" isn't a bad record. The playing is great and the lyrics are quite good. If handled properly, this band could be really big.

 

3 ½ / 5 stars