You wait ten years for a Wildhearts album and then…yep one and a half come along at once. ‘Diagnosis’ is a six-track release which includes five new studio cuts and the title track ‘Diagnosis’ which featured and stood out the bands skin removing ‘Reinassance Men’ album. This impressive mini-albums first new offering is the cut ‘n’ paste ‘God Damn’ which kicks off with guitarist CJ taking on lead vocals duties as the heavens open and a Wildhearts aural storm ensues. The song ends like most start, with heart fuelled power, power and more power, it’s refreshingly brutal. Danny’s bass and voice are sent into overdrive on the futile motorpunking ‘A Song About Drinking’ which resonates with an explosive ‘Caffeine Bomb’ familiarity. Ginger just doesn’t write bad songs and this is none more evident on the nerve-tingling chorus for the rocktastic ‘The First Time’. Ginger’s lyrics walk hand in hand with the band’s musical strength, sometimes the words are deeply personal, including “Every night alive is a night of second chances” or as a commercial “She’s so fine, fine, fine I think about her all the time.” ‘That’s My Girl’ is a simple yet ear-splitting slice of set filling, boot bouncing Rock ‘N’ Roll Wildhearts style. Final track ‘LOCAC’ is a thunderous drum meeting a mutation of noise as it thrashes, punches, pukes and swirls like a drunken mental breakdown in a Weatherspoons toilet.
Cherish these productivity spikes from this priceless rollercoaster of a band because with both Ginger and The Wildhearts God only knows what tomorrow could bring.
THE WILDHEARTS
DIAGNOSIS (Mini Album)
Graphite Records
8.5/10