Artist: Rose Tattoo
Label: Armageddon Records
Release: 2007
Length: 40:58
Rating: 4/5
What is there left to say about the music of the legendary Australian rock hellraisers Rose Tattoo? Probably, once again, that if AC/DC had never existed, these guys would likely be sitting in their spot on today’s rock map. Rolls Royce Tattoo! No point wasting words on how similar the energy is between the two bands, both unleashing bizarrely simple rock riffs while (still, after all these years) gnawing doggedly at the very heart of rock n’ roll authenticity! “Blood Brothers” is the band’s new studio album, their first in five years, which is how long it’s been since “Pain”. Time ticks on mercilessly, and Rose Tattoo have slowly had to face the loss of the comrades who built the band alongside them. Most recently, in 2006 to be exact, guitarist Peter Wells and bassist Ian Rilen both passed away! The first was taken by prostate cancer, the second by bladder cancer.
None of it dented the energy of a band that has spoiled its fans rotten. Rose Tattoo are still the same rotten punks through and through, giving a damn about every trend going and still pumping out scandalous, cheekily sharp-tongued rock n’ roll barrel-rolling, laced with erotic spice and with defiance as its guiding principle. These guys scoop up rock by the ladleful, never asking when, who, where or why, and just follow their primal instincts for the beating heart of rock n’ roll the whole way. Believe me, it doesn’t get any deeper or more honest than this.
The whole sound of the new album is a notch sharper, cranked up even more, almost dangerously loud and metallized. Even the band’s main trademark, besides the endless treasure trove of the members’ tattoos that strictly separates their rock from their countrymen AC/DC, namely the wailing slide guitar, has picked up quite a few more decibels. So the aim of shoving a new scorching rock n’ roll album onto the market has been achieved. Naturally. Peter Wells is missing, Rose Tattoo are thirty years older and things just aren’t quite the same anymore. Some of that juice from the older albums, the kind woven right into the sound of the slide guitar solos, has simply gone south, precisely because the whole instrumental arsenal got cranked to a toxic degree during production.
The unique blend of blues, boogie and rock n’ roll stays completely unfazed, though, and Rose Tattoo flash their full-throttle side with undiminished passion on the new album too. Especially if you’re not weighed down by their older studio offerings. The album rolls dangerously through its first four tracks, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more trivially shaped riff than the one carried by Black Eyed Bruiser (the title alone tells you it’s about the band’s commander himself, Angry Anderson), followed closely by the wild Slipping Away, though with a touch less cheekiness. Slide floods the album with the bluesy Once In a Lifetime, and then comes one of the album’s hardest-hitting tracks, 1854, where Rose Tattoo kill it with a perfectly crafted chorus, born to catapult even a crowd of many thousands in arenas and stadiums irreversibly into the sky! Needless to add, this music is dangerous for bikers, since with this CD on rotation while riding, they’ll want to rip the throttle clean off once it’s twisted all the way. With City Meat and Street Blues the album calms down a bit. These two (slower) numbers, thanks to the sacrificed juice, are the least interesting tracks on the album, and way too long to boot. The new Rose Tattoo work best when they’re fast. Does anyone even doubt that? That’s why Man About Town puts things back in their place, and the album climbs to a peak of adrenaline-fueled rush with the closing rock n’ roll bouncers Nothing To Loose and Lubricated.
Want to open fire at a party with a full load of rock n’ roll rounds? Strap on the new Rose Tattoo album. Good and tight, so your balls don’t drop off when your pants start rattling! Rose Tattoo remain a blood-thirsty wrecker!
Lineup
Gary “Angry” Anderson – vocals
Mick Cocks – guitar
Dai Pritchard – guitar
Geordie Leach – bass
Paul DeMarco – drums
Production
Mark Opitz
Tracklist
01. Black Eyed Bruiser
02. Slipping Away
03. Once In A Lifetime
04. 1854
05. City Blues
06. Sweet Meat
07. Man About Town
08. Creeper
09. Stand Over Man
10. Nothing To Lose
11. Lubricated
