Thursday, March 11, 2010

Airbourne – No Guts, No Glory – A Review


The band is best known for being an almost illegal mimic of AC/DC, as well as their musical contributions to video games, with pieces such as Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast and Runnin’ Wild, both from their first album.

No Guts, No Glory (NGNG) is very similar to their first effort but it feels dirtier, heavier and mostly faster. The guitar is clearer, less gritty and their sound, one can tell, is getting more focused and unique, taking a slight departure from the obvious inspiration that is a certain Australian quintet.

What strikes me the hardest about NGNG are the lyrics. They are very dirty, with many innuendos to sexually explicit situations and desires, and barely contained references to alcohol and drug abuse. I usually don’t mind these things, especially the sexual innuendos, but drug usage is another matter. I don’t care about pot or other “small” stuff but when it comes to mixing hard liquor with heavier drugs which can potentially cause death, I draw the line.
Also, even though I don’t expect grandiose lyrical poetry with deep thoughts on politics, religion and heavy philosophical questions from Airbourne, for me there is a limit to how graphical the innuendos can be. Am I comfortable singing those words from Armed and Dangerous or Chewing the Fat in the car with the windows down and my little girl sitting in the back? I am with AC/DC (Given the Dog a Bone, Beating Around the Bush) but in this instance, no.

Musically, the album is very good, especially for lovers of true, hard, real, rock. Comparisons to AC/DC are inevitable, with some pieces, such as Back on the Bottle, that contain riffs and sounds that could be considered plagiarism in a very near future. Towards the end of Bottle, for example, there is a piece of the track that is exactly like one from Let There Be Rock, especially the live version of this song from the album of the same name.
Airbourne are faster than AC/DC. A journalist once said in an interview that the band was like AC/DC on a 12 pack of Red Bull. Airbourne also lacks the blues influences of their older cousin; perhaps this is what gives them a faster sound. To me it’s like they replaced the blues of AC/DC with 80’s hair metal from bands like Cinderella or Ratt.
Also, there is no denying Joel O’Keefe’s talent. He is a fantastic guitar player, capable of great speed and complexity with good riffs and melodies that grab the ear and never let go, complemented with a loud, raunchy voice, perfectly suited for Airbourne’s style of dirty rock. No Guts, No Glory takes full advantage of those talents to give us loud, no bullshit hard rock.

Personally however I preferred Runnin’ Wild, Airbourne’s first album, over NGNG because it was a little bit slower, with some tracks contrasting with the rest of the album with increased fury and speed (Runnin’ Wild, Girls in Black), taking the listener by surprise and making for some nice variety. There are no such moments on NGNG, as all the tracks are pretty much the same.

Not that this is a bad thing, since all the tracks are good. They rock, they make you want to pump up that volume and scream those dirty words like Joel O’Keefe while driving down the highway, with no filler tracks, present on too many albums, even AC/DC’s.

I discovered Airbourne a few months ago and they have become my favourite new band. I love their dirty rock sound and although they are a little bit too fast for now, I really can’t object to a replacement of my true favourite band when they decide to hang up their instruments.

No Guts, No Glory is fun, loud and dirty, just like a true rock album should be.

8/10