Ryan's Gig Guide - December 2019

THE VERDICT BY NICK J. TOWNSEND Merry Christmas weaklings. Looks as if there is a surge of intriguing new original music springing to life judging by the CDs that bands are sending me. Keep up the good song writing and don’t ever become lazy. Walsall based Dinky release their second studio album ‘Open Letters’ with eleven polished indie pop rock tracks recorded at M2 Studios at Mad Hat,Coven and Park Studios, engineered by Owen Davies and Andy Taylor (Editors/The Twang) but is it any good? Tell you what; track two came on and I thought “I bet Jimmy EatsWorld fans would love this” and then I realised the song is called ‘Jennifer Against The World’, do doo do du Twilight Zone ah? Now that’s almost how I felt about every other song; reminiscent of another band I know already; no disrespect meant; I don’t think there’s anything here so original that it’d destroy Skynet but there is a gigantic well produced professional clean pop rock sound that you automatically associate with bands such as Ash, Feeder, Foo Fighters and before said Jimmy EatsWorld; that’s not a bad thing at all is it? Highlights for me were album closer ‘J.O.Y’.; sounded well deep towards the end, I liked the lyrics to ‘Lights Go Out’, the melancholy tones of ‘The Ones I Left Behind’ and riff wise ‘Overrated’ wins with it’s Pixies-like attitude. This is a brilliant album; maybe not original but I loved it and I’ll definitely listen to it again for sure. www.dinkymusic.co.uk ALBUM OF THE MONTH DINKY: Open Letters Black Country three piece punk rock band Flashhearts release a follow up to their 2018 and highly praised ‘Fears’ EP which we crowned EP Of The Month; this time they send us ‘At Last’; it’s twice as big, superior in sound; it gets the same treatment. Straight on the highlight slab is the excellent high octane tune ‘Eddie Mordrake’; best track in my opinion; soon as the intro bolted in I heard a total upper of a Nirvana-like riff worthy of the Bleach album; when the song vocals begin you’re whisked into a crazy world of rock that’s arguably very recommended for fans of Backyard Babies,TheWildhearts, QOTSA and Foo Fighters. Recorded by James Rabone at Electric Mistress Studios, all six songs cement their style which they sound confidently comfortable with indeed. No messing around just naked punk rock n’ roll tunes played with genuine passion that also demonstrate how slick they must be as a live act too. Highly commendable. www.facebook.com/flashheartsofficial EP OF THE MONTH FLASHHEARTS: At Last www.ryansgigguide.com 8 rgg Dec 2019