American Sharks – S/T – CD/LP 2013
American Sharks came blasting out of my speakers for the first time with an unexpected reckless fury that I welcomed with open earholes. It’s this sort of music that truly brings happiness to me. They’re the sort of band that you can listen to and no matter how bad a mood you’re in beforehand, I guarantee if you take a dose of American Sharks, you’ll be feeling better soon.
Their sound makes me think of a B-Movie I saw when I was a teen…what was it called? Oh, yes, it was none other than Street Trash. The film was pure insanity. If I remember correctly, a bum flushes himself down a toilet in one scene…. To this day, I am in awe that the film even managed to make the leap from VHS to DVD. I only wish I would have purchased a copy when I first saw it at a Best Buy all those years ago. This band makes me miss the old days where my friends and I used to watch and review crappy movies such as Street Trash or Deadbeat at Dawn. More often than not, B-Movies can be more entertaining to watch than big-budget films.
The energy that American Sharks generates makes me imagine a band of angry, sweaty, hyperactive bikers, swinging chains and crude blunt objects over their heads like modern-day pirates, raping, pillaging and plundering, riding hog-back shouting: “We are the angels of fire!” as quoted (hopefully not incorrectly) from the eighth track “cocaine” off their new self-titled album. I think it describes them perfectly.
As powerful as a meathead’s flexing arm, the guitars crunch through the speakers with a steady ferocity with drums pounding along in surly response, the words leading everything onward like the singer from The Ramones gone insane, it all comes together to create a unique, but familiar sound, reminiscent (to me) of riffs such as Torche’s, or vocals (dare I say it, and it’s not meant as to be an insult) that remind me in moments of those juggalo weirdos Mushroom Head. In no way am I implying that these are their influences or that you, the readers, will agree with me. These are just my weak attempts as a reviewer to paint the pictures in my head more thoroughly for you all.
Some parts punk, some parts thrash metal, their new album tore through my apartment walls and windows, down into the parking lot, with blazing fury, likely scaring an old lady or two back into the supposed safety of their homes—it’s a good thing for them that the American Sharks aren’t in town!
Batten down the hatches, this band kicks ass!
Label: The End Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter
Scribed by: Sean Filkins
