Release Date: 8th January 2024
Twelve songs, less than forty minutes, a band name with a bit of a naughty word there. This is punk!
Christening the new year, or at least once those January the 1st hangovers have passed, is Of A Love Renewed from Aussie punkers Crash & The Crapenters. Their third album sees them continue the themes of their 2017 debut Set In Stone and the self-titled effort from 2020. By bringing together some rockier elements, dipping their toes into ska and generally not caring that much about genres the band are able to just write music that they love. An admirable trait, regardless of your opinions on the output.
From start to finish, the pub-punks from Sydney set about just having some fun. Whilst there is a track that stumbles just over four minutes long Of A Love Renewed feels like an album that just flies by. From ‘Runner’s High’ into ‘I Don’t Get Johnny Funk’ it is plainly obvious that there is going to be at least a track or two that everyone can just settle into and have fun with. Where the opener is a full-bodied punk track, what follows has about as catchy a bassline as you could ask for.
That is how things continue throughout, too. One second it’s a stomper of a rock track, the next you’re throwing shapes to the bass and the next you’re smashing cans off your skull cause you’re just way too punk for ringpulls. There’s nowhere to hide on Of A Love Renewed and you wouldn’t want to anyway.
The real highlights come in the middle and towards the end of the record in the form of ‘Those Who Matter Don’t Mind’, a track that is pretty self-explanatory in terms of meaning and has an almost folky feel to it before ‘Ride It Out’ brings that funky ass bass back to signal the beginning of the end of the album. Rawness pours out of the album and if this doesn’t make you want to book a flight to the Australia’s east coast to go to some seedy punk bars and throw down then nothing will.
Overall, this is a collection of songs that is surprisingly easy to just get lost in. From front to back it is packed with songs that vary from a bit silly to heartwarmingly sweet. Even when they’re yelling “fuck their dog as well”. It is in there if you pay attention. Whilst this may not be an obvious contender for album of the year, it is certainly an easy listen that touches on some challenging topics and one that deserves multiple listens to drag out the lyrical themes and punchy statements.
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