Following up their self-titled debut album from 2002, The Datsuns are back to bring more of their retro flavoured rock from New Zealand to the world. Kind of like the Darkness but with leather and a frown replacing spandex and tongue-in-cheek humour.

It’s straightforward enough rock, unoriginal and uninspired, but then they never professed to read Nietzsche so there’s no reason to expect anything other than what’s here – an above average AC/DC tribute band with some Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and The Ramones thrown into the mix.

Highlights include ‘Cherry Lane’, ‘Hong Kong Fury’ and the vicious ‘Blacken My Thumb’, which is the first single, but mostly it’s just generic testosterone fuelled rocking and there’s not a great deal to distinguish any part of this from the rest of it. Hardly likely to convert any new fans but it’ll please the legions they already have.

In it’s favour it’s probably about as raw a 70s rock experience as you’ll get from anywhere new these days and to their credit they make The Darkness look more like rock pretenders, along the lines of say, Queen. Produced by John Paul Jones, the bass player from Led Zeppelin; who frankly was the dullest member of the band – well he wasn’t into black magic, heroin, choking on his own vomit, or fucking women with fish – doesn’t add anything of distinction, and next to Led Zeppelin the Datsuns are mere boys in the presence of men.

It rocks and it rolls but then so did Status Quo, this just doesn't have enough to distinguish itself from a host of other substandard rock bands plying their trade. If I want a retro rock fix I'd listen to Highway To Hell by AC/DC or any Led Zeppelin before I picked up this piece of dumb bogan* pub rock.
(2/5)

 

* Bogan (noun) - NZ social group, predominantly male. Interested in heavy metal, cars & engines and drinking. They are greasy and rough looking, wearing tight black jeans and a mullet hairstyle.  US equivalent = white trash. 

 

Release Date: 07 June 2004

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