DODSFERD
Cursing Your Will to Live
(Moribund)

THE WARRIORS
Genuine Sense of Outrage
(Victory)

CRUSHING THE
GRINDCORE
TRADEMARK
3-Way Split
(BlastAsFuk)

BLUT AUS NORD
Odinist
(Candlelight)

CREATURE FEATURE
The Greatest Show Unearthed
(Sumerian)

FACE THE PANIC
The Reclamation 

(Reaper)

PHASED
Medications

(Elektrohasch)

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Not bad. Not bad at all.   With a name like that I wasn’t expecting much. It avoids the whole ‘sentence as a band name’ trick, which is good but it didn’t say much either. I am much more prone to lean toward bands that got their name down to like two or three syllables and if THE is used in front of then that’s fine too. There is not bitching around that, that’s for sure.  Or also when the name of the band ends with ‘tion” like say, Mutilation, Immolation, Incantation, Destruction, etc, that’s cool too. There is no reason for suspicion either, besides brain laziness and crappiness by association.

But anyway, for some reason I was expecting a band of suit-clad middle-aged mustachoed men covering Tom Jones tunes Vegas style and was like wondering why is that this close to Christmas I have to get this shit. But I got something totally different.  Not totally inventive or ground-breaking, especially if what you are looking for is fucked breakdowns. Matter of fact, this music is the exact opposite of insecure macho-men metalcore; as the songs flow in a manner that is quite the opposite of the bouncy smashing of say, fucking Hatebreed.  Which is welcomed, especially considering that this band certainly has a few aces under its sleeve and that the last Turbonegro release broke my heart and got me searching for the next raunchy rock and roll band to satiate my thirst.   Enter Riverboat Gamblers.

The wait has been long and really The Hellacopters are a thing of the past, especially considering how polished their new stuff is…I mean, where is the coke fellas? And what about the fireworks up your ass crack? Hank Von Helvete I am looking your way. Anyway, nothing fancy or weird, or out of the ordinary here. Just plain solid rock and roll with fueled-up guitars and sufficient adrenalitic melodies to cause an aneurysm of joy.  Just picture what a band with songs like this could do in a Summer tour like Warped; where now 75% come to rely on faux-hawks.

But I am not here to knock on anything or anyone. One thing that must be admired about this bunch is the quantity contained in To the Confusion of Our Enemies. There are fourteen tracks here and all of them possess a sweet hook and swift vocal lines.  In times like this where every other album should be converted into an EP just to keep the quality up, this is simply a treat.  Another band that promised greatly, at least as far as exploiting this fun field, was Canadian trio Danko Jones, but latter spins or their newest have failed to spark the faintest light.  The only negative bit I can add here, is the presence of second track “Don’t Bury Me…I’m Still Not Dead”; first is located a bit too early in the sequencing and second it recalls too many pop punk radio ready songs.  Aside that this band is doing great work here and To the Confusion of Our Enemies is  one of the most fun and invigorating records of the last year..

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