Humanzi caused quite a record company feeding frenzy when they emerged blinking into the Dublin music scene last year: slit-eyed, leather-clad and possessed of some of the loudest, rawest rock ‘n’ roll the country had heard in years. More melodic than Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, more anthemic than The Hives, more ballsy than Razorlight and incomparibly less irritating than Tabloid Pete, Humanzi have the raw materials to make the breakthrough internationally. At least six of the 11 tracks here have the potential to turn them into household names, at least in grotty student hovels, from Basildon to Ballybofey, if not even further afield.
Their stall is set out right from the off, with the magnificent chug-a-lug screamathon of ‘Diet Pills And Magazines’ providing a raucous opening salvo. This song is a perfect snapshot of what Humanzi do best: welding the kind of all-encompassing shout-along lyrics that Noel Gallagher would give his eye teeth for to searing guitar riffs from the Keef songbook, underlaid with the same no-nonsense rhythm section that made The Strokes superstars. When frontman Seanie Mulrooney howls, “This is the shit, so get used to it”, you can already envision thousands of fists raised and voiced joined in agreement across the summer festival circuit.
Their best tunes, like the brilliant ‘Long Time Coming’ or the so-infectious-it-should-come-with-a-health-warning ‘Get Your Shit Together’ tend to creep up on you like a kitten with a sledgehammer. These boys have a knack of creating mantra-like chants that resonate around the darker recesses of your cranium whether you want them to or not.
Then there’s the taut ‘Out On A Wire’, which comes complete with one of the most addictive signature guitar lines this side of Kings Of Leon; ‘I Want Silence’, whose middle eight is stunningly apt and hilariously Depeche Mode-esque at the same time; or the Stone Roses-go-punk of ‘Fix The Cracks’. Meanwhile, the title track’s almost five minutes of tension-filled paranoia is as close to mid-paced epic as they get (i.e. not very).
Like their incendiary live performances, the pace is nothing short of relentless over the course of the 43 minutes or so it takes Humanzi to slash and scorch their way through this 11-track debut. Louder than the Hill 16 roar, brasher than Posh Spice on a shopping spree, more intense than being stuck in a lift with Travis Bickle and Tony Montana, and more in-yer-face than a headbutt from Vinnie Jones, the boys done good.