The Senton Bombs - 'Chapter Zero'

A quality slice of Hard Rock that is gritty yet melodic.

I remember when Punk Rock was just a bunch of herberts with three chords and an attitude... when spitting on the crowd was an art and Sid Vicious was considered a musician. These days, when a band describes themselves as Punk you never know what you're going to get, but it's odds on that it's not gonna be a nostalgic journey back to 1977.

The Senton Bombs certainly fall into that bracket, delivering an album described in the blah as "Punk Rock & Roll" but in reality it's a quality slice of Hard Rock that is gritty yet melodic. 'Chapter Zero' is their third album and upon listening you certainly wouldn't think they were from Blackpool. This is solid, punchy Rock which comes across as a mix of The Ramones and The Almighty with a fair dash of Guns N' Roses (when they were good) and plenty of Glam Rock vibes. Seriously, if 'Heading For The Guillotine' had appeared on 'Appetite For Destruction' it would have been hailed as genius. Joey Class has the perfect voice for the kind of music on show, very sleazy but also tuneful and not a million miles away from Michael Monroe.



As you may have gathered, I like this. There's so many little influences wangled in together, so many nuances in what are initially simple Rock songs, and so much enjoyment to be had from songs like 'No Rest For The Rockin'' or 'Acid & Alkaline'; no frills on the surface with plenty of frills underneath, The Senton Bombs don't deserve to be stuffed into the Punk pigeonhole – they need to spread their wings and let the general Rock population discover what they've been missing. Failing that, they could just start spitting on people I suppose.

Alan Holloway