The Bronx - VI (2021)

 Are The Bronx the best band working in the US (or world) today? I'm not sure if they are the best, but one definitely has to add them into the discussion. 

Few bands can continually release albums that one thinks is their best, and then they follow it up with something equally as good as the predecessor. The Bronx accomplish this not by regurgitating the same material over and over, but continually mining from the same inspirations, and continually evolving their sound, and tweaking it each time, creating riffs that outshine the previous. All the while they are being propelled forward by the brilliant Matt Caughthran. I, personally, can't think of another vocalist who can scream as harsh as he can, yet still shine through that scream with an infectious melody that nestles itself into your brain. 

On top of all this, we have to pay attention to the lively and intense drumming. I was a little worried about the loss of original drummer Jorma Vik, but The Bronx have continued to prove that they know how important the drums have been to their sound. We aren't talking about groundbreaking drumming, but rather drumming that hits with fills at the perfect spots, while being incredibly flashy and tasty, and exactly what is needed. The drumming makes its presence, but never tries to over shadow anything else. 

Songs like "White Shadow" and "Superbloom" are classic Bronx style tracks. While a song like "Watering the Well" gives us just a straight-up good time rock and roll tune. The Bronx never forgets they are here to rock the hell out of the room, and they do this almost non-stop.

They do step out a little bit with the song "Mexican Summer," almost to remind us of the bands alter-ego, Mariachi El Bronx. But we follow up this track with "New Lows" that quickly throws up back to The Bronx that we bought the album by. 

"Breaking News" made me suddenly realize how much Matt can sound like Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, early Black Flag) at times. The song itself is pretty much straight forward hardcore, so this leads to his voice and that similarity very easy to make and connect. 

"Jack of All Trades" is the type of thing that The Bronx do so well. A perfect mix of punk, new wave of British Heavy Metal, 70s hard rock, everything all mashed into one track. The riff is almost "Green Manalishi," but I am betting they first heard the Corrosion of Conformity version, then the Judas Priest, then eventually moved to Fleetwood Mac (yes, that was my original listening order, so what). 

The final song, "Participation Trophy," isn't quite the punch I would hope them to end on, but the songwriting and riffing and switching is incredibly cool. I'm thinking this was the ending choice because they wanted to show off the writing and the killer groove. We aren't ending with a bang, but rather a "Yeah, watch what we can do here, and where we might be heading!"

As I said, are they the best current band? Not sure, but they deserve to be in the argument, and they definitely are one of the best current bands, and without a doubt one of the most consistent. 

Edit: Yes, I stepped away from the other albums that were recently purchased. A favorite record store announced that they are shutting down business, and they are having a massive sale. So, I had to run up there and grab a few things I was hoping they still had. This is one of those purchases.