With the resurgence of Classic Rock, bands like The Temperance Movement, Monster Truck and recently Greta Van Fleet, and the imminent release of the Bohemian Rhapsody film it is the perfect time for something new from The Struts. Formed in 2012, they are a four piece Rock band with an undimmed love for Queen, The Darkness and The Rolling Stones.
Their highly anticipated second album Young and Dangerous (Polydor) offers the same unabashed Glam Rock as their debut but with more – more riffs, more hooks and more fun. Singles ‘Body Talks’ and ‘Primadonna Like Me’ are the perfect tasters for what is to come; joyous three-to-four minutes of reckless hooks and huge choruses, the latter getting bonus points from me for featuring a knife-wielding Alice Cooper in the video.
It is perfect for those that like their rock energetic, catchy and jovial and ‘Tatler Magazine’ is such a number, a bouncy ditty about the aforementioned magazine of the well-heeled and Luke Spiller’s longing to live the high life. ‘In Love With a Camera’ is about someone caught in the middle of the narcissistic world of social media and selfies, with a similarly smile-inducing sense of joie de vivre.
The bombastic melodrama of debut deep cuts such as ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Only Just a Call Away’ are expanded on in ‘Fire (Part 1)’ and ‘Ashes (Part 2)’. The former is a powerful number, with all the fury of Bruce Springsteen and Meatloaf in their seventies pomp. The latter track is similarly exultant, a loved-up outsider anthem of My Chemical Romance proportions that nearly buckles under the weight of its fire and fury.
They are a few glossy missteps in amongst the exuberance hits with one being ‘Bulletproof Baby’. Sure it is well crafted and catchy but these charms are dulled by its overly polished and poppy production. ‘I Do It So Well’ and ‘People’ also showcase similar levels of sheen in what are otherwise pleasant but ultimately throwaway slices of Power Pop, though I must admit that, despite my reservations, the remodeled version of ‘Body Talk’ featuring Ke$ha is a snappy little head turner.
With a sense of fun and a penchant for big riffs and melody, Young and Dangerous is a bombastic rock record and the ideal antidote to the tumultuous times we live in.
7.0/10
THOMAS THROWER