“Drive till sunrise / Fall asleep till sunset / Somewhere in-between, make the devil’s music”, is how the album’s second (and title) track ‘punkrockvampires’ begins. And what a way to begin your pitch. What a suitably fierce and just-stereotypical-enough epitaph to live by, huh? But delivered with such contravening moderation and calm – like a lightly applied prayer before bedtime, the first straggles of sunlight scarcely seeping over the dusty horizon – that it seems like little more than an ironic aside or passing druggy desert daydream. Ahhh, but no, here it comes. WHAARR go the guitars, HUUUURR go the vocals and TSCCHH go the drums. “BURN!” they shout, and indeed “DIE!” along with something about suicide and something else about punk rock music. It’s just stupid enough for you to take that leap of faith with them into the cascading black yonder that is rock n roll, wearing a uniform guilty smirk and eyebrows set to stun.
Because amongst all the spirited Shellac and Sonic Youth pounding, strained through an And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead colander and left out to dry till it forms a My Bloody Valentine crust (generally only occurring after 45 minutes of following the previous instructions to point of meltdown), there’s a prevalent giddiness to the whole affair. You can sense the wide eyes and peaky glowing faces through the billowing cacophony of the soundtrack. Very reminiscent of fellow (and exceedingly underrated) Aussie terrors Gerling, especially taking into account the bridges of fuzzy electronic tinkering (‘A Guild Of 4’ and ‘Verse-Minus’) that link the alt.guitar overdrive of the majority of the record.
They play the trusted quiet-loud card like seasoned late night poker veterans. And as antique as that blueprint may seem in principle, everyone exactly aware of the one trick you have up your sleeve, you’ll still wipe the floor if you play it at the right time. This is all about toying knowingly with your emotions, lulling you into a corner, and then splitting them like an atom with a mallet. They salute the honest joy of tune on the Thurston Moore through-breeze daydream of ‘Yesterday’s Enemy’, singing brothers Cibot and The Kid (oh yes) out-hoarse …Trail Of Dead’s Conrad Keely on ‘A Return To Civil Life’ and ‘Ignite The Hearts Of The Glorious’ is a dirty trudge through hardcore minefields. If it’s not an album packed with surprises then it’s an album stuffed with all the right moves.