ALBUM REVIEW: DeeCracks – Serious Issues (Pirates Press Records)
I don’t profess to know a lot about the Austrian punk scene, but I do know that I like this album by Vienna-based trio DeeCracks very much indeed.
Formed in 2003 as a Ramones covers band for drummer Mike’s 18th birthday party, they were initially known as The Cretins, but had to change their name in 2007 after parting company with a couple of members and being threatened with a lawsuit.
That left original vocalist and guitarist Matt and drummer Mike to continue as DeeCracks, and after going through no less than 10 bass players, they appear to have found a settled line-up with current four-stringer Paul Coyote (who also fronts The Ratcliffs).
This is his second album with the band after 2018’s Sonic Delusions (which was also on Pirates Press), and if you’ve heard DeeCracks you’ll know exactly what to expect. Although they rarely stray far from their tried and tested template, their songs are sufficiently different enough to avoid all sounding the same.
They serve up short, sharp slices of catchy-as-hell punk ‘n’ roll played with passion and energy, full of infectious melodies and choruses you’ll find yourself singing along to before you know it.
This is their fourth full-length studio album as DeeCracks, and they’re obviously from the school of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. But while their sound remains the same, their songs, which rarely exceed the two-minute mark, are always different enough to engage with.
Each side of the LP opens with an instrumental, but that still leaves 14 slices of riff-laden tunes which will get your head nodding and your feet moving, wishing you were listening in a venue with a drink in your hand.
We Can’t Help It and the closing Don’t Turn Your Heart Off, both released as singles, are standouts, but there’s not a bum moment here. The sleeve notes’ boast that this is ’16 hit singles on one LP’ really isn’t too far off the mark.
Each side opens with an instrumental track, one a desert rocker and the other more spaghetti western, but that still leaves 14 slabs of top-notch tuneage, most of which seem to be about relationships. I love Matt’s gruff vocals, which remind me of Social Distortion‘s Mike Ness.
If you like melodic punk which sits somewhere between the Ramones and The Bouncing Souls, give DeeCracks a listen. You won’t be disappointed. 8/10.
- Serious Issues by DeeCracks is available direct from Pirates Press Records on two different LP variations HERE and digitally via the label’s Bandcamp page HERE.
