Drunk Tank Pink (studio album) by Shame

I do believe that Shame is my favorite artist in the 2020s post punk movement. In this album especially I think they take huge influence in bands like The Clash. I also admire that they make their music more accessible and less pretentious than many new post punk bands. I think this is a great album to put your foot in the post punk door!

From mdbaxter 08/09/2021 14:29

Fantastic energy. Nearly nonstop barrage of noise that remains highly technical even at its most chaotic. Some of the songs blend together in their similar sound but it's a good sound so I think it works. Interesting key changes and thought provoking lyrics.

From HoldenM 07/27/2021 05:34

Love the urgency, love the creativity on display, love the breadth of personality. Post punk just ain't what it used to be, but this is damn fine effort to give it some life.

From cestuneblague 06/06/2021 18:48

Pure post-punk comfort food. A flippant assement? No. It has the attention to lyrical detail and enough urgency in the playing to avoid the more cramped, studied feel of some other recent post-punk revivalists, but also not truly inspired enough to feel like it transcends genre altogher. The intangibles or the overall sound are never earth-shattering but it is constantly engaging in it's fairly streamlined sound, and that's good enough for now

Sadly, not much to say about this, it's one of those albums where one part annoys you so much that it ruins the whole listening experience. I see it's being labelled as post-punk, but I can't get past the punk aspects of it -yes, you know which ones I mean, those that had no business surviving the 70's, and unfortunately there's a ton of them-, I really didn't think music like this would have a place in 2021, this is like moving backwards - and in this case I don't mean that in a positive way. One of the most disappointing listens in quite some time.

After enjoying their tremendous debut and catching them live a couple of times in 2018, I called myself a Shame fan, bought the t-shirt and spent almost 3 years desperate for a follow up. Drunk Tank Pink doesn’t disappoint and with each listen comes closer to beating out their excellent first album Songs of Praise (not quite excels it, however) but definitely builds upon a very promising career.

Snow Day is my favourite track here and probably what I’d use to sell this album. Every track hits hard here and makes for the best rock / punk rock album I’ve heard in years... possibly since the first Shame album.

Charlie Steen is a very charismatic frontman and as soon as we’re out of this lockdown and able to go to gigs again, I’ll aim to be front and centre at a Shame concert.

From Mercury 01/15/2021 17:41

85 to 95/100 (Continuing a trend of punk albums absolutely kicking my ass in 2021, this album goes ahead and kicks ((perhaps)) the very hardest. Post punk, dance punk, noisey rock, artsy heaviness, oh my! Oh and go listen to "Snow Day" if you wanna see what is so great about Shame.)

This album fucking rocks. It makes me wanna mosh and dance and stand still and sad whilst looking out at the city streets and go and tear shit up, all in relatively equal measure across its 42 minutes.

Its nearly relentless in its heaviness, and it IS relentless in its tension and mood. All the while Shame remain undeniably accessible and even catchy.

A few of these songs (namely, Snow Day, Harsh Degrees, Human For A Minute, Born In Luton) are next level statements and just sublime. The rest of the album and its other tracks are also excellent. The slowed down tracks are gorgeous, and manage to be manic and fragile and very tense all at once (The closer, Station Wagon and especially again Human For A Minute are excellent examples of this fine tight rope they so deftly walk.). On the great song 6/1, there is even a moment of emotional depth that rivals early Interpol (it does sound quite similar to some of those classic Turn On The Bright Lights songs).

I don't have much to say of any usefulness. I guess I will summarize in the following run-on sentence: if you love Punk rock, if you love those manic and catchy Talking Heads guitar riffs from their late 70s albums, if you love the spit and fury of John Lydon's vocals and the cooler than cool (ice cold) vocals of peak Strummer, if you love muscular and, frankly, badass Bass lines holding down the furious beast alongside some pummeling Post-Punk drum barrages, if you love albums that come fully formed and beautifully paced and come with the singular purpose of shaking you by the shoulders and giving you a swift kick in the ass, then I think you will LOVE this album and it will become a new favorite or, at the least, you will appreciate the heck out of it.

As I listen to this album more and more throughout the year (and I do think it will be one I am constantly reminded of and sticks with me) I am sure my opinion will blossom a bit. As of now I am mostly just loving that in 2021 I am listening to an album that makes me feel like a vibrant and pissed young rebel again. This album even makes Digital Marketing and IT troubleshooting seem like acts of tortured and righteous rebellion.

"I need a new solution.
I need a new resolution,
and its not even the end of the year."