Mensen
Oslo City
Gearhead
Norwegian garage punks Mensen have come up with a pretty fine second album, a solid leap from 2000’s rather uneven Delusions of Grandeur. Following in the steps of fellow Scandinavian rawkers The Hellacopters (whose Nicke Andersson co-mixed this) and melody wonders Sahara Hotnights, Oslo City offers some pretty straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll peppered with huge riffs and brilliant choruses. It’s all a bit on the safe side, and we could easily do without cliché-ridden sub-Ramones tracks like ‘Twenty-One’ and ‘The Night Before The Morning After’. But the main portion of this is good-humored, proud, and no-frills garage punk that doesn’t even try to pretend it’s anything new. Nowhere near an essential purchase, but solid fun for those with a penchant for hard-hitting yet melodic garage punk.
Gearhead Records: http://www.gearheadrecords.com/
