I'm struck again and again about how much great new music is coming out with roots from decades ago

If you love Rock 'n' Roll guitar then you'll love this album. Mark Thorn is a veteran who knows the right kind of raw vocals required for this sort of material and strikes the right attitude. Born out of the ashes of Bubblegum Screw (Thorn, Miguel Martins and Jonathan Gaglione) that released two pretty good albums, the change of band name perhaps signifies that with this album the guys are taking it to a new level.

I love the lyrics of opening track 'I'm Killing Myself And Everyone Here Is Helping Me', it strikes a chord with the human condition in that primal way that songs with Punk roots usually hit home. However, it's the combination of that perspicacity from the gutter with the killer guitar that makes this album special for me and one I want to listen to again and again. In particular, the loud passionate guitar break at the end of the first track is not only originally placed, but it's as addictive as the subject of the track.

There isn't a song I don't like on the album. Another favourite 'Kiss Like Dynamite' has the right kind of New York swagger for this brand of Glam Punk. 'Bring Back Rock 'N' Roll From The Dead' is the title track about the excitement of discovery and love of Rock 'n' Roll and the constant quest for it once bitten despite what happens to be popular culture. 'This Is The End' is initially a kicking back, kind of reflective song with some fantastic Blues style guitar, but eventually, anger kicks in exactly like emotions work in real life when it speeds up to finish. 'Spin' proves a slightly political edge lyrically, sassy social comment redolent of Punk's intelligent but rough and pithy take on life and society, while 'From Hero To Zero' perfectly portrays the all too human tension, typical also in Punk, of wanting to be hopeful and romantic, but not being able to avoid seeing things as they are in urban, gritty hi-res. Neon Animal, just as much as Shakespeare or any other poets, appreciate painfully and clearly what it means to be human.

I'm struck again and again in 2017* about how much great new music is coming out with roots from decades ago, but when it's done this well, it never gets old.

Dawn Osborne

(*this review is from Fireworks Magazine #80)