ALBUM REVIEW: Social Distortion – Born To Kill (Epitaph Records)
Since their formation in Orange County in 1978, Social Distortion have earned a reputation as one of the most influential bands in punk rock.
Originally part of the same hardcore scene as Adolescents and Agent Orange, they changed style after a mid-1980s hiatus while frontman Mike Ness went into rehab.
For the past 40 years they have been blending rock ‘n’ roll, blues and country influences with the spirit of punk, selling three million albums along the way.
Their most recent release, 2011’s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, confirmed their status as torchbearers for what might be called the outlaw punk scene, and although Ness promised there wouldn’t be another seven or eight-year gap between albums, life got in the way.
He was diagnosed with tonsil cancer, and it was only after winning that battle that he returned to the task of finishing what became the eighth studio record, Born To Kill. It finds him in reflective mood, as well as full of defiance, and over the course of 11 tracks, Social D re-affirm their claim for a seat at punk’s top table.
Ness has been quoted as saying he had over 40 songs to choose from, but wanted to write the record of his career, and not just rush something out for the sake of it.
Joined by long-time bandmates Jonny Wickersham on guitar and Brent Harding on bass, the line-up is completed by David Hidalgo Jnr (ex-The Bronx, Suicidal tendencies) on drums, who’s making his recorded debut despite being in the band since 2010!
It bursts into life with lead single and title track Born to Kill, and it’s clear from the off that SXDX mean business. Over crunching guitars and a locked-in rhythm section, Ness warns in his trademark rasp: “I’m the underdog who ends up on top/The rebel poet with the peacock strut/Gonna make a change, gonna rearrange/Look out man you’re in my pissing range!”
As opening tracks go it’s a banger, and the standard doesn’t drop over the next 10 songs. The urgent No Way Out, up next, is a song which goes all the way back to the sessions for 1996’s White Light, White Heat, White Trash album, and finds Ness in contemplative mood, admitting “I’ve become my own worst enemy.”
The Way Things Were is a slower, self-reflective song which harks all the way back to his hell-raising youth, when he ended up in rehab and in trouble with the law, while the upbeat Tonight is about finding a way forward after losing the one you love, and there’s another relationship song in the swaggering Partners In Crime.
There’s a real change of pace for Crazy Dreamer, which features guest vocals from alt-country artist Lucinda Williams. Sadly, for my money it’s probably the weakest song on the album.
Social D have always liked a well-chosen cover, with versions of Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire and the Rolling Stones’ Under My Thumb featuring on albums over the years, and Ness recording a whole solo record’s worth, Under the Influences, back in 1999.
Here, they turn their hand to Chris Isaak’s brooding 1989 hit Wicked Game, filling the space of the original with slashing guitars, and perhaps surprisingly it works, without the song losing any of its impact.
Walk Away (Don’t Look Back) is a standout track which opens with a wonderfully dirty guitar riff, reminding us this is a punk rock band we’re listening to, while there’s a real glamp stomp to Never Goin’ Back Again.
There’s another leftover from the White Light… sessions in the chugging Don’t Keep Me Hanging On, with Ness’s voice sounding more world weary than ever, and things come to a close with Over You, a strident break-up song powered by another meaty riff.
I’m not sure Born To Kill is the record of Mike Ness’s career, as he intended, but as a comeback after 15 years without Social D music, it’s definitely one that was worth waiting for. 9/10.
