Roll On

The living end

Roll On [Reprise]

Ah, the high-octane blitzkrieg of power punk. This Australian trio have already made (new) waves in their home country and now try to do the same on the other side of the world.

Essentially, it’s all a rerun of the concise blast of chorus-heavy, sub-metal rock that was a mainstay of post-Pistols and Clash punk before the more mundane mohican mobs became punk’s mainstay. Mixed by Andy Wallace, who cleaned up Nirvana for mass consumption, and produced by Nick Launey, The Living End have the big bucks of a major label behind them. Now if they could only make the little girls understand they might be a force to be reckoned with.

It’s better when there is some substance to the anger, of course, and the lyrics here do strive, at times, for some deeper meaning. The first single and title track is about the diminished power of dockland trade unions but one suspects that the chorus of “Uncle Harry pissing in the bath” is more likely to be remember than the underlying message.

The Living End may not be offering anything new but it’s still refreshing, in a sea of pre-teen posing, to hear something that feels like it has some soul at its heart.

Stephen Rapid