Album Details

• Artist: Akimbo
• Album: Jersey Shores
• Label: Neurot
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-03-27

So I guess that there were a lot of shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916, and Akimbo are skill pissed about it. As subject matter for a punky, metallic rage-fest, it may seem odd. Ok, it is. But "Jersey Shores" is so relentless and in your face, they could be singing about laundry drying and it would hit like a glorious blast of NEWS.

Solid, angry vocals spur on the guitar attack, especially on "Matewan," "Great White Bull," and the title track. All six tracks, though, jam and hold the thread-thin narrative together surprisingly well. Songs about the apparent victims of some of the attacks-"Lester Stilwell" and "Bruder Vansant" are almost moving, at least in the anger over senseless loss of life. Akimbo crush through the tunes with hard riffs and odd but effective feedback interludes.

"Jersey Shores" lays waste to any suggestion that Akimbo are not out to lay waste. Revisiting a hometown tragedy with amplifiers cranked is as good a way as any to keep myths alive. There is even some vague sense of solidarity with the dead, which adds to the effects of the sonic blast.

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