Its brash, brutish façade accelerates in a way that keeps the commendable aphorism hidden at a glance, but its intensity is an infectious science, alchemizing its influences into a championing 37-minute mass movement.
Comparisons will most commonly be made with The White Stripes, but the way Rory and his younger brother, singer and guitarist Eoin, take the blues rock template defined by the Detroit duo and make it their own reveals them to be alchemists rather than plagiarists.
It’s neither too deliberately lo-fi sounding nor too glossy, and there’s a complete lack of bullshit about it.
Drenge are true to their phonics, subjecting listeners to a gnarly, ultra-funky – and that’s in the stinky sense, not the Nile Rodgers sense – aural pummelling.
It’s all teeth, blood and bones, spit, grease and sweat but it’s a snarling yet intelligent beast of an album that stalks the landscape of British music like the unstoppable monster it threatens, and with a certain bloodlust, deserves to be.
There’s heaps of incendiary six-stringers, throttling beats and barbed tongues; it’s a potent brew that they peddle, but one that suits them just fine.
Drenge, though, manages to avoid this potential pitfall, presenting 12 tracks that fluctuate between straight up rock, and blues-y tones similar to those of The White Stripes, but keep enough of a common style to have a nice ebb and flow without becoming messy and uncoordinated.
#27 of re-reviews (redoing past album reviews from way back when)
the band's album covers are always so aesthetically pleasing, i love it. well, i’ve loved them since forever but still, this shit looks so damn good.
during this period of my life in 2020 (ah yes, music when music was music for me at this point), i was very into pitchfork’s recommendations. a lot of them stuck onto me, or more accurately stayed collecting dust in my library after a few couple listens, with releases ... read more
This album is very important to me personally for many reasons but as a 16 year old it was the first album i ever listened to without already knowing much about the band or heard their songs before. I was immediately blown away and i am so happy that it hasn't worn off me yet. I still think it is a truly phenomenal debut full of dark imagery, themes of emotional abuse and toxic relationships. These themes are obviously not rare in music but Eoin Loveless brings such a sharp wit that some of the ... read more
#4 I Want to Break You in Half
#7 Face Like a Skull
#8 I Don't Want to Make Love to You
#11 Let's Pretend
#12 Fuckabout