Dirtbag Republic

Tear Down Your Idols

SHOCK/MANIT MUSIC GROUP Shout it out loud, Canadastyle.

With Scandinavia no longer bringing action-rock to the man with any consistency – I think they’ve moved on to power metal or something – it seems only fitting that the genre would default to another cold and isolated area. This kinda tawdry outlaw shit just grows better in the dark, and Vancouver fits the bill.

Dirtbag Republic is the dirty work of a bunch of ex-90s punks-turned-arena-glam rabble-rousers. Idols is their third full-length album, and if you are smart enough to have already heard the first two then you know what’s coming: big, chunky hooks, hot sleaze-metal riffs, and lyrics about rockin’ all night, every night. The band are at the height of their powers on pop-metal gems like posers-getlost anthem Wannabe and the chugging, radio-ready Skinny,

both of which could easily fit on an early Kiss or Hanoi Rocks album, but the whole thing will have you shaking whatever’s left of your moneymaker. ■■■■■■■■■■ Sleazegrinder