Social Distortion – Born to Kill (Epitaph)
The band’s long awaited eighth studio album comes 15 years after 2011’s ‘Hard Times and Nursey Rhymes’, with frontman Mike Ness delaying the final product until he had perfected it amongst his struggles with busy tour schedules and cancer. The wait was well worth it: if the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is anything to go by, then this release throws all the rules out the window. Co-produced by Ness and Dave Sardy with guest appearances from Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Lucinda Williams, this glammy rock ‘n’ roll album literally wears its art on its sleeve with a ball grabbing cover of a roaring leopard by acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey.
The track list breaks open with title track ‘Born to Kill’; full to the brim with acrid whirring guitars and ferocity vocals, it nods to Iggy and the Stooges’ ‘Search and Destroy’ and Lou Reed’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal’. The Hüsker Dü tinged ‘No Way Out’, a track originating from an earlier period in the band’s history, is a guitar anthem, with twin guitars building to a peak. The alternative and partially acoustic ballad ‘Tonight’ is a mournful savouring of the impossibility of lost opportunities and ‘Partners in Crime’ has a circular melody with a pedal streaming guitar solo.
But perhaps surprisingly of the best songs on the track list is the band’s cover of the Chris Isaak 1989 chart topping single, ‘Wicked Game’: it gets the balance between the hapless intensity of Mess’s voice alongside the mellow delicacy of the original, with a country blues feel and Mess’s vocals arcing off amongst burning lead guitar. The release also keeps true to its (cow)punk rock roots with the defiant stomp of ‘Walk Away’, featuring one of the best guitar solos on the album, and the beating rhythm of stripped drums in ‘Never Going Back Again’. One of the best rock albums of this year.
‘Born to Kill’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.
© Ayisha Khan.