I’ve heard of these guys for a little while now, but wasn’t quite sure what I’d be in for in regards to their sound. I knew they were in the punk genre, but whereabouts, that was the question, but seeing their CV of supports they have done, including Rollerball, X and more, I had a feeling that whatever they were going to sound like, there would be some rawness to it.

I wasn’t disappointed.

From the first track, ‘Undecided Again’, Fire Driver kick you in the guts and infect your eardrums with some catchy riffs and melodies, which almost instantly sent my mind into a flashback of listening to JJJ in the 90s...that kind of rock/punk/chunk sound that was so present in bands like Helmet, Mark of Cain (both bands of which are cited as influences), Bad Religion, but even bands like Grinspoon, older Jebediah, and Bodyjar. The kind of stuff I used to listen to before going for a surf to get me amped.

Second track, ‘On the Border’ has a slight nod to Greenday (intentional or not) with a riff very similar to ‘Brain Stew’, but faster and a lot rawer and chunkier. With the chorus meant for drunken sing alongs, I would imagine this song would be killer live.

The little Slide Guitar interlude, ‘Gazpacho Soup’ was an odd treat, (personally I like weird touches like that in an album), but then it kicks into Mark of Cain time with songs like ‘Smoke Me a Kipper’ and ‘Another Lost Story’, which is a good example of that amping to go for a surf sound I had described earlier.

‘Note to Self’ brings a low, dirty groove into the mix, and the last song on the album (this is a full length by the way, not an EP), ‘Gun Runner’ has me tapping on the desk from the get-go.

I love the rawness and the chunk that has been missing from the punk sound on the Coast for too long that Fire Driver bring, with absolutely no sign of nasal singing or any emo at all. The drums kick the shit out of you, the vocals are loud and shouty, the bass deep and twanging, and the guitars are in your face.

Bring on more of this, please.

You can get a copy of Fire Driver’s ‘Dead End River’ from Moshpit Music, Backbeat Records and Puncture Body Piercing for $15.

Rooster.