Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons

We’re The Bastards NUCLEAR BLAST

After charging out of the traps with up-and-at’em anthem We’re The Bastards, the Campbell family’s second album barely lets up until its halfway point with the harmonica-driven blues of Desert Song (echoes of Dark Days from their debut). True, there’s an acoustic guitar intro to fourth song Born To Roam, which eventually settles into something like down-home bluesy Americana, but it’s quickly back to type with Animals (one of three or four here that might have worked for Phil Campbell’s previous band, Motörhead). The superb Keep Your Jacket On proves that rocking fast and hard is meat and drink to the Bastards, and they often improve when angry, as on Bite My Tongue, the Pantera-like Hate Machine and even the punky Destroyed (liberally sprinkled with ‘Fuck you!’s).

The so-so Riding Straight To Hell misfires, and curve-ball closer Waves could be by a different band, but Lie To Me (on which Neil Starr’s vocals soar over an unlikely mix of AOR stylings and a riff that Tony Iommi would be happy to claim) adds an unexpected twist to the unrelenting attack. ■■■■■■■■■■