Wilson

Tasty Nasty Century Media

Detroit party starters make confusing return to their roots.

On their third album, Detroit hard rockers Wilson are still pursuing the party; Dumptruck and Wrong Side Of History are familiarly rousingly, sleazy amalgamations of Black Stone Cherry swagger and Cancer Bats’ fist-pumping heft. But elsewhere it’s all gone a bit 90s fratboy, Like A Baller, House Of Fuckery and Act My Age being particularly garish, mentioning underage sex, fake IDs and pornos. There are times when the formula works: despite the dodgy rapping, skater anthem Summertime Treat (Tasty Nasty) has a glorious chorus that sounds simultaneously like Len’s Steal My Sunshine, Smash Mouth’s All Star and OPM’s Heaven Is A Halfpipe.

Of course, Wilson have done jackass metal before, but back then there was a whiskyhardened edge to their ferocity. What’s really missing here is that glint of danger that lurked behind the haze of dive-bar smoke. Without it, Tasty Nasty’s brand of nostalgia is kinda awkward.