Get Fucked

The Dirty Nil

The power poppers from my neck of the woods released their third album way back in January of this year and I thought I would give it a shot. I've been aware of the band since what feels like the very beginning just by proximity of being apart of the Toronto music scene, but I'll be honest, I've never really listened to them. Well I gave it a shot and it wasn't too bad. Some pretty catchy guitar riffs, some pretty great vocal performances, and lyrics that get straight to the heart of the matter without any decoding. I appreciate how playful the band is, writing cheeky songs about desiring an edgy satanist that listens to hardcore and 80s thrash metal, while incorporating some of those same musical elements somewhat disingenuously. Or writing a song about being too old to use drugs anymore, implying we have too many responsibilities or that the party lifestyle is just not that much fun anymore. The aptly named Done With Drugs also boasts one of the stickiest guitar riffs on the whole record, sort of reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr. with all the string bends.

Despite the catchy riffs and strong vocal performances, I'm unfortunately having a difficult time identifying with these songs. I'm getting a strong bar rock vibe from many of these songs both lyrically and musically, and I guess that doesn't interest me all that much. One More and the Bill is another song about drinking to make the world's problems go away. Hang Yer Moon is about a girl who seems to be madly in love despite their man's constant efforts to skirt domestication. Musically, this album is very accessible, but the songs seem to aimed for a very specific audience, an I'm not part of that audience.

I give the record points for having some great performances on the vocal end, a few really great guitar riffs, and on the more technical side, for being wonderfully engineered and produced. I appreciate the 'no frills' philosophy on the production, especially given that we seem to be living in a time that is pushing really awful, maximal, radio rock. The draw back of this unfortunately is that if the songs don't hit, they just don't hit, and that was the case specifically for me. Although, if you're in the market for straight-forward, friendly, catchy, pop-rock, then give this one a shot.