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dankojones powertrio
Artist: Danko Jones
Title: Power Trio
Genre: Hard Rock
Release Date: 27th August 2021
Label: Mate In Germany / Tonpool


Album Review

Hardrock band DANKO JONES celebrate their 25th anniversary this year by releasing a new album ‘Power Trio’. The album’s title already indicates that the band will continue their road as a band that never cared for trends and played their own uncompromising style of Rock. Only few bands can boast of having a sound that people will immediately recognize like MOTÖRHEAD, AC/DC or IRON MAIDEN and that sound live pretty much the same as on their studio recordings. The album was recorded in 2020 and we all know, that it was a challenge for every band to record new material, for meeting in person was a no-go for most of the year in many countries.

DANKO JONES are a perfect live band, who are used to deal with all kind of challenges coming out of the blew during a tour and it seems that’s why they were able to work as a perfect team while recording the new album. If you look at the track list, you can already guess that some of the lyrics deal with things that got a new and more important standing during the lockdowns. Who didn’t think ‘I Want Out’ or ‘Let’s Rock Together’ while ‘Saturday’ got a new boring meaning? But don’t worry, this is not a boring, retrospective or depressing album, it’s the contrary. Listen to it twice, first focus on the simple but perfect instrumentation, that lacks most of the unnecessary studio effects and gives the album a simple but powerful direction, then pay attention to the lyrics, that deal with things you might have been thinking about recently, too and marvel about how the music underlines the lyrics.

When I read the track list, I wondered why the bands kicks off their 10th release with a song called ‘I Want Out’ instead of the song called ‘Start The Show’ but when I started to listen to the album ‘I Want Out’ immediately drew me in, this explosion of pure Rock and the lyrics that express what many of us have suffered during the various lockdowns made the song a perfect opener. ‘Good Lookin’’ is a typical DANKO JONES song, quite up-tempo, with a positive attitude and the bands ever present theme of women, same goes for ‘Blue Jean Denim Jumpsuit’, that reminds me of early AEROSMITH sound wise. A big surprise was ‘Saturday’, for the title misleads you a bit, until you listen to the lyrics. If you know ELTEN JOHN’s ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)’, then you will soon admire the band’s ability to DANKO JONES ironically homage to tis legendary song.

If you pay attention to ‘Raise Some Hell’, you’ll soon find out, that the song deals with the events around the death of George Floyd and the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The music is pretty straight so it might become a part of a regular live set in the future. ‘Get To You’ might have been inspired by the lockdown experiences as well, for people suddenly had much time to think about their life and self-fulfilment, the music is quite motivating. If you are a fan of the early era of KISS you will love ‘Dangerous Kiss’ for the guitar sound is exactly what the bands early sound was like, while the lyrics deal with aspects of relationships and their traps. ‘Let’s Rock Together’ really needs no explanation and it’s exactly what you expect a good Rock song to be like. ‘Flaunt’ it is a typical DANKO JONES song for a live set and it will move the masses for sure with its Punk prone intensity and the rambling and pretty fast beat. The songs structure really invites a crowd to be part of the live performance.

The last song is the highlight of the album, Phil Campbell of the legendary full power trio MOTÖRHEAD contributed the guitar solo for ‘Start The Show” , that is also the longest song on the album and suddenly 40 minutes have passed and make you long for more, leaving behind the feeling, that a good album doesn’t need millions of sound effects or a massive studio productions, only skilled musicians who pay attention to their music and who write songs that they can play live for their fans, whenever the world is ready for them. I can’t wait for the day DANKO JONES will play ‘Start The Show’ and all the songs of this perfect album live on stage.


Tracklist

01. I Want Out
02. Good Lookin’
003. Saturday
04. Ship Of Lies
05. Raise Some Hell
06. Blue Jean Denim Jumpsuit
07. Get To You
08. Dangerous Kiss
09. Let’s Rock Together
10. Flaunt It
11. Start The Show (feat. Phil Campbell)


Line-up

Danko Jones – Vocals, Guitars
John “JC” Calabrese – Bass
Rich Knox – Drums


Website

https://www.dankojones.com/


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 10 / 10




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