One of the thing that is great about rock music is that it doesn’t have to be always be so perfect or pretty. Take British psychedelic rockers Sewer Rats for instance. They write and play like they have riffs, whiskey, smoke, shrooms, and rage in their veins. They have an exuberance they wear on their sleeves and are more concerned with delivering the message, than how nice and neat things need to sound. Thus their début EP Moneymaker (Fluffer Records) is an exerciser in “feel” over form.

Opener ‘Skint’ is a shitkicker of track, sure to get you moving. Coming on like the bastard child of Clutch, and The Jesus Lizard, ‘Skint’ is a statement. You have to wonder about front man Luke Morris‘ health and sanity a bit when he barks out the verse in his weathered wail. Second track ‘Devil’s Blues’ is evil sounding, an uptempo number which has more of a psychedelic tinge coming through. Feedbacking guitars and more howling vocals give this one a little “Motorhead-lite” style, but that is not a bad thing in this case.

‘Black Label Serotonin’ was a surprise cut to me. Trippy and oddly sinister, the song builds like a mantra into a special little interlude. You’d like to hear the band explore this space more on future releases. The title track is next and is far and away the best one. The ebb and flow between the stop – start – slowdown main lick really shows what these guys are capable of. When ‘Moneymaker’ shifts into final avalanche of chords, its awesome. Lastly the angular tones and fuzzed out play of ‘So Far Away’ is a good way to bring things to a close. There is a lot to chew on in just five songs, but sometimes the sum of the tracks is better than some of the individual talent here. Moneymaker is a spark of promise laced with much possibility.

6.5/10

KEITH CHACHKES