The Preston psychobilly veterans return in excellent form!
Nearly 30 years into their existence, and still bursting with youthful energy; we’d love to know The Hyperjax’s secret. This is the Preston trio’s sixth album, and whilst it’s hardly a departure from their signature sound, it’s comforting to realise once again that – in an increasingly uncertain world – you can rely on The Hyperjax to bring the tunes, the energy, and then some.
The brace of the title track and ‘Stranded in Skelmersdale’ makes for one hell of an opening statement, belting along at the kind of pace that makes you fear for their upright bass player’s fingers (it’s ok, though – we saw the band live recently and we can verify that he makes it look all too simple to play that fast). And my goodness, the hooks! Even when addressing the sorry state of the modern UK on the likes of ‘Damnation, Here We Go’ and ‘Ain’t That A Kick In The Teeth’, they’re still armed with the kind of choruses that are sure to bounce around your brain for days on end.
They’re just as effective when they ease up on the gas pedal, though. ‘The Charmed Life Of Barry Sheen’ and ‘Bad Luck Charm’ are built around great twangy surf-style guitar riffs, whilst the jaunty ‘Line In The Shifting Sands’ comes across as a ‘let’s part ways, no hard feelings’ anthem for the ages – and a great one at that.
If we absolutely had to find fault with this record, it’s that the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ musical approach means that ‘Scars On The Horizon’ yields little in the way of surprises. But really, who cares? There’s more than enough quality on show here to justify The Hyperjax’s status among the country’s finest and longest-running purveyors of psychobilly, and as ‘The Train You Never Caught’ brings things to a close, it’s clear there’s plenty of life left in them yet.
- Scars On The Horizon
- Stranded In Skelmersdale
- Bad Luck Charm
- Damnation, Here We Go
- The Scapegoat
- The Way You Used To Roll
- Ain’t That A Kick In The Teeth
- The Charmed Life Of Barry Sheen
- Just Passing Through
- A Greener Grass
- Line In The Shifting Sands
- The Train You Never Caught
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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