Despite the Sci-fi, almost Yes like, album cover created by Frank Franzetta, Lecherous Gaze are a punk band from Oakland, California. Lecherous Gaze have been around since 2009 and have an E.P. and a couple of albums under their belt, with One Fifteen (TeePee) being their third.

Their sound is a fusion of raw punk energy and ethos with classic rock riffs and guitar licks straight from the 70’s. ‘Reptile Minds’ and ‘The Day the Earth Caught Fire’ sound like Alice Cooper in his pomp melded with the no nonsense approach of The Ramones, the latter’s guitar licks are very Glen Buxton like. You can also hear a slight ‘50’s influence with the fast Chuck Berry like riffs of foot tapping title track, too.

The band put on a grand performance and are very tight on each track, with the croaky roar of singer Zaryan Zaidi sounding like the love child of Joey Ramone and Andrew WK, especially on the visceral crunch of ‘Cosmos Redshift’ – although you will have a tough job figuring out what he is saying. A dark aura surrounds some songs as well, with the gloomy ‘Thing Within’ and it’s very moreish riff. ‘Malevolent Shroud’ drinks from the same doom-ridden well, as Zaidi warns us that “There is no escape!” amidst the Black Sabbath like darkness.

All in, this is a more balanced album than its heavy predecessor Zelta Reticuli Blues (2014) with warm and organic production values, but lacking the bluesy virtuosity of their 2012 début album On the Skids (all TeePee). The finale ‘X City’ typifies this balance, starting off raucous and loud then morphing into a louder Beach Boys type surfer song, you even hear a rare squeak of synth in the outro.

7.0/10

THOMAS THROWER