As a fan of all things Justin Pearson; his Three One G label as well as his numerous musical endeavours, I was stoked when I got the call to cover Los Angeles outfit Daisy Chain‘s sophomore album, who Justin is also supporting with PR.
Daisy Chain are a quartet comprised of Kyle Barnes (vocals), Dandee Ronruen (guitars), Kevin Lessley (bass), and Jarred Tibbets on (drums). The band formed in 2017, feature members of Graf Orlock and Mossbreaker, and had previously released 2018’s You Moved Like I Wanted To debut full-length, 2020’s Hard Rock Lives 7” and a number of subsequent singles.
Opener ‘Beat the Chain’ is described in the promotional notes as conjuring “the hard rock feel and attitude of the late-eighties Sunset Strip” and it certainly is the case as its replete with crowd noises that help transport one to that time period. In case you were breaking into a sweat thinking this is shorthand for godawful Cock Rock, think more along the lines of SSD‘s Break It Up and Junkyard‘s self-titled debut. Hard Rock it may be, but thankfully nothing to be embarrassed by.
‘Nothing In Your Hand’ by contrast takes a Jesus Lizard noise rock-orientated approach with the rumbling bassline and a vocal style not far removed from that of Snapcase‘s Daryl Taberski while ‘The World is Not Spinning’s riffing reminds one of both Metallica and Helmet with the latter’s more blunt approach to noise rock, especially prominent.
An excellent number.
‘Flipping the Coin’ has an abrasive punk/blues vibe such as you may have heard on releases by the likes of The Laughing Hyenas and John Brannon‘s later band Easy Action, while ‘Magic City’ is the kind of kickass garage punk that Mudhoney served up back in the day with a cool fuzz-laden Fu Manchu stoner rock vibe to boot. ‘Across My Mind’ features a Velvet Underground ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’ style swagger, the proto-punk menace of The Stooges, and Spacemen 3‘s psych noise sonic terror. In total then, slower than its predecessors but no less powerful.
‘Feel It’ has one thinking AC/DC Bon Scott era, particularly ‘Let There Be Rock’ but if it were sung by Henry Rollins during his Black Flag/Rollins Band heyday. Proof that you can have a masculine, tougher sound without resorting to macho posturing, something that was unfortunately endemic in the hair metal scene.
‘Drive to Nowhere’ is the kind of anti-authoritarian rebellious and righteous anthem that rock ‘n’ roll once stood for before cocaine and major labels took over and ‘Roll the Dice’ is a delicious slice of murky grunge goodness with a little Unsane thrown into the mix, if the latter had a more hard rock tendency that is. ‘See You Soon’ gives off a nineties Amphetamine Reptile sensibility that I’m more than content with as a fan of that sound, whilst ‘Sunset on Sunset’ is a distinctly more angular piece that requires a couple of listens to fully engage with but is ultimately worth the perseverance.
The track fades out with a quote from Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro‘s character in Heat) “all I know is there’s no point in me going anywhere anymore if it’s going to be alone…without you” that helps conclude the album on a poignant note.
This isn’t your average hardcore record and there is more variety than you can shake a stick at. This makes for a refreshing change and I look forward to digging further into the band’s catalogue as a result.
Buy the album here:
https://linktr.ee/vitriolrecords
8 / 10
REZA MILLS