Five stars for the simple reason that this album has the front to exist. Maximum points for the name, the vintage girl-on-a-motorcycle cover image, each member’s street nicknames, singer Jake “Preacher” Cavaliere playing Farfisa organ and every other extreme rock’n’roll tactic they belch loud and proud, pulling everything off with flying colours because they are simply so damn good. For their third album, the Lords are joined by former MC5/Destroy All Monsters bassist Michael “Mad Dog” Davis, seismically clamped around apocalyptic drummer Max “Sicko” Eidson. Now they’re unstoppable.
The full-tilt black leather Motor City angle has been done many times before, but this bunch take it to almost cartoon, Ramones-esque extremes, the dogfighting twin guitars of Johnny “Stiggs” Devilla and Shawn “Sonic” Medina galvanising songs such as Hold Fast and Faded Black like a red hot poker ’twixt the buttocks. The energy level throughout is pile-drivingly lethal, turning Living Hell’s cheeky heisting of the Stooges’ 1969 into unfettered jubilation, while the blues-wailing title track recalls the New York Dolls’ R&B onslaughts. Driving Too Fast is simply content to pummel its garage-punk riff into the gutter. Old dogs cock a leg over young pretenders again. Gloriously.
