DEALING WITH DAMAGE
ASK THE QUESTIONS
(Little Rocket Records)
The broad alternative musical church of Dealing With Damage opens its double doors wide and proud to usher in the release of their magnificent debut album ‘Ask The Questions’. The band’s DIY ethic manages to encapsulate Punk (and all its subsequent fall-out) from the Seventies right up until the present day without serving or kneeling before any decade or genre specifically. Opening track ‘Stop Everything’ ricochets across the decades with finger poking brutality of in your face tuneful Punk ‘N’ Roll. ‘No Money No Peace’ has a harder, faster and rustier edge while ‘How Much Will We Let It Affect Us’ pinballs emotions and it’s a song that begs for your personal interpretation. A speedy ‘Worlds Within A World’ circles the juggler without drawing blood before a slamming ‘Langauge Lesson’ buries your soul in the sweat-covered hardcore pit. The Eighties paced ‘Slow Shadow’ flirts with the mainstream by flashing a Cult Love era riff armed with an anthemic, aeroplane arms, dance-inducing beat. At just over two minutes ‘The Process’ is an incessant jab to the liver whereas ‘Strange Melody’ bubbles with bedroom Indie blues before the late morning pro-plus kicks in. Looking at the world from someone else’s perspective is crashed out on a fuzzy ‘Sharkbait’ before the nostalgia-heavy lyrics on ‘Some Colours Never Change’ evoke memories of party packs, gatecrashers three channels and care-free youthful beliefs that somehow remain unaffected by the onset of mortgages, children and adulthood. DWD go all Detroit on ‘People I See’ while an acoustic ‘For Babara Dane’ lazes by the Country campfire with a Black Lips/Thunders clap-a-long to complement its flickering flame. Final cut ‘The American Empire’ is a mesh-up of radio tuning and military DJ spiel before exploding into a final few seconds of splatterpunk. Dealing With Damage has delivered a top-notch debut release that deserves, no demands your attention and time.
8.5/10
Guy Shankland
You can watch the bands brand new video ‘Making Plans For Misery’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ade3vVyacwA
The album and the previous E.P’s are available to purchase from: https://dealingwithdamage.com/merchandise/ask-the-questions/?fbclid=IwAR3YyYspqi2E-Xat1Tk3LtPvj_yK_Jv_R7lclmliJ3V5i-CCko88k1wFkPg
