Danko Jones - Never Too Loud
Review by Jack Foley
THE name of the album tells you a lot about what you need to know about Danko Jones. Never Too Loud is a high voltage rock album that doesn’t do things by half measures. Rather, they wear their influences on their guitar straps, citing Motorhead and AC/DC as big factors in their ethos.
Hailing from Canada, they’re rapidly winning friends on the rock circuit, with many hailing the unbridled enthusiasm of lead singer and guitairst Jones being a particularly endearing factor.
And, somewhat surprisingly, they’re not at all bad. There was a fear, when listening to the somewhat ordinary riffs of album opener Code Of The Road, that they’d be quite a one-note rock act, content just to thrash around and resort to formula.
But Still In High School, with its adolescent views on sex and education, is a fun listen that boasts a strong chorus (keen on melody) and some witty lyrics, while Take Me Home, which softens the riffs and plays up the melody, is a genuine pleaser (more Fountains of Wayne-style pop rock than AC/DC stadium filler). It’s a great track for California cruisin’.
Let’s Get Undressed is a guilty pleasure rock-out that reminded me of Kid Rock, while Forest For The Trees is a meaty six-minute speaker blaster that channels the energy of Sabbath quite effectively. The guitar work is particularly searing.
The album, as a whole, does eventually run out of ingenuity after this point, peaking a little too early and appearing content to do exactly as I’d initially feared – heavy rockers such as Never Too Loud, Your Tears My Smile and Something Better are particularly one dimensional and tended to wash over me.
But when t
Download picks: Still In High School, Forest For The Trees, Take Me Home
Track listing: