When it comes to mixing uncompromising rock and metal with pop there is no doubt that there is one band who stand head and shoulders above the rest, The Wildhearts. In Ginger they have a songwriter who delivers album after album, while their live shows are a mess of sweat and singalong choruses. Over the course of their career the band has had a load of musicians, has broken up multiple times (and apparently are again on hiatus), and while this album was only two years after ‘Renaissance Men’, that had been the first new one in ten years. It would be hard to get any fan to 100% agree on the most important line-up of all time, but there is a good argument to be had that the one on this album is the most valid with Ginger (vocals and guitar), CJ (guitar), Danny McCormack (bass) and Ritch Battersby (drums). Apart from Ginger they have all been in and out of the band (although there have also been multiple times when the band did not exist at all), but the most recent recruit is Ritch who first started with the band in 1993, which was the first time this actual line-up played together.

Singalong punk pop with melody and strong tunes, this is probably the most consistent studio album of The Wildhearts I have come across, bringing together the best elements of ‘P.H.U.Q.’ and ‘Earth vs The Wildhearts’, with one great tune after another. Ginger is a great writer, and I personally have felt neither he or his bands have ever really got the kudos they deserve, and here is another album which is packed full of anthems from a bunch of noisy tattooed oiks who somehow maintain pop melodies and harmonies while never being anything different to what they are. This is yet another stunning example of how a band can be out of the mainstream, yet keep pushing their way in. I vividly remember them playing “Caffeine Bomb” on TOTP back in 1994, and I still wonder what the normals thought about these guys taking over the studio with their raucous noise, and all the years down the road they are still doing the same. More than 30 years down the road from when they began, The Wildhearts are still relevant, still kicking commercial rock in the direction they want it to go, and the earth is still losing the battle. Brilliant.

Rating: 10/10

Links:
https://www.thewildhearts.com/
https://www.graphiterecords.net/