Grunge is hard to pull of these days, especially if you come from the era of such greats as Nirvana and Soundgarden. A lot of the current trends in grunge lean towards the more pop and commercial sound, without the guttural roar that was so present back in the late 80s and early 90s.
Violent Soho, a four piece band born and bred in Queensland’s Bible belt, are releasing their self titled debut album, produced by the amazing Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighers, Distillers) on April 30. Kicking around Brisbane for the last five years, as well as their latest stint in the US has helped develop them into a band that knows how to pull off grunge in this crazy day and age.
The album explodes from the opening riff of ‘Here Be Dragons’ into a fulminating, energetic anthem which sets the tone for the rest of the album. Further through, ‘Outsider’, an acoustic track really helps Violent Soho develop credibility as a band, showing not only that they can scream and write some really catchy and genial grunge, but have the ability to do this while the volume is turned right down.
One thing that I noticed, especially after reading the band’s bio, is that growing up in the Bible belt obviously had an effect on them. This is detectable on tracks like ‘Jesus stole my girlfriend’ (which is currently sitting in the Billboard Top 40) and ‘Eat your parents’, both riddled with animosity for Christianity. This is also noticeable on the album art which depicts a female Jesus-like image.
Overall the album is going to appeal to the veterans and the noobies of grunge and punk rock alike, with its old school, bona fide sound and raw lyrics. From here on out, they can only get better. I have a feeling that we will see Violent Soho around for a long time to come.
