Peppered with poppy, sing-a-long choruses, Muffler Men’s dynamic blend of alternative, grunge and stoner, simply cackles with energy.
Together since the summer of 2008, the Ghent trio’s debut is packed with punchy, malevolent tunes, from beginning to end, while also demonstrating a songwriting maturity beyond their years.
Mastered by Brian Gardner – a man who’s CV includes working with: David Bowie, the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures – Trigger and Fly manages to tap into the slovenly grooves of Josh Homme, without sounding like a direct rip-off – imagine if Homme offered Dave Grohl the chance to play rhythm in a kind of Colour and the Shape–meets-early-Queens mash-up – and you’re in the right area.
Exploding into a heavy swirl of light airy vocals and riff-heavy rock, ‘Daily Taste of Summer’’ is an upbeat opener, while, the plodding guitar jerk of ‘Engineer’ is reminiscent of the formula used during 2000’s Rated R – albeit with a more radio-friendly sound.
Briefly changing direction, ‘Lack (The Bad Apprentice)’ is an assortment of meandering lyrics and harmonies, over the sound of dense, punk riffs, before moving onto the cautionary darkness of ‘Trigger and Fly’.
There’s no denying that this is a driving record, which is damn-near impossible to dislike.
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