Comfort To Me (studio album) by Amyl And The Sniffers

From dihansse 12/07/2021 20:49

Unbridled punk energy

From Brad1770 11/28/2021 00:03

Amyl and the Sniffers have diligently built a reputation as Australias premier punk band and here they frank that assessment with their best album yet and one of the best albums of 2021. With each subsequent release Amy Taylor has sounded more and more like Poly Styrene from the iconic and personal favourite X-Ray Spex which is probably the biggest compliment I can pay this album

With lyrics the likes of:

“ Maggot, carcass, maggot be free
Come on maggot
Put your maggots in me
Maggot, carcass, maggot be free
Come on maggot
Put your maggots in me“

Seriously, what’s not to like ?

From Mercury 09/17/2021 01:53

(Lovers of Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers and The Sex Pistols and good, lively Garage punk albums of yore then you will love this... I think so. I mean, I do. This album fucking kicks ass!!!)

As I listened to this album for the thousandth time and noticed I was putting on my stink face and was bobbing my head like I was 16, I felt a sense of joy and returning. Its been awhile since I heard a brand new album that even remotely got me into that L.A.M.F./1977 Punk rock state-of-mind. Its an almost purely somatic experience, where my whole body feels like a mad dog ready to say "fuck off" to every authority figure within 6 square blocks. Its a bloody great feeling!

Now, I'm a bit like Freddie Gibbs, still livin' like I'm 16, but not completely. I have so few moments even within this hobby of music listening when I feel like a teen again, that when an album reminds me of that feeling I for sure appreciate it. I had a somewhat similar experience in January when I heard Shame's 2021 album Drunk Tank Pink. But even on that album, there was a bit too much art punk, Talking Heads and Gang of Four going on to fully transport me to that time and place. This new Amyl and the Sniffers eschews the post punk/art punk offshoots and instead sinks its teeth fully into that first couple years of pure punkr ock and roll and its glorious.

This album has some sick simple heavy badass punk riffs. lol "some" ... no, it has LOADS. It has some of those fiery, imprecise, 100% passion Thunders solos, it has some garage punk in its bristly simplicity, it has some Garage Rock Revival in it with stomping swaggering badassery somewhat similar to The Hives. Hell it even has a little bit of Maiden that crops up briefly with that chugging old school heavy metal riff on "Capital"! But most importantly this album has Amyl. Or rather real name Amy Taylor. Let me tell ya something about Amy: she is a total badass motherfucker and you do not want to mess around with her or you may be stabbed. This woman is so damn sexy, feral, so damn filthy and slovenly and gives so little fucks it should be a crime. Something about how brash and bold she sounds on these pure punk bangers, it blows me away. Her thick aussie accent just absolutely tears into these songs like no one else. She is a badass and the MVP of this album without a doubt. I love her.

The songs here are incredible. "Security" is probably my most listened to song of the year, perfect garage punk anthem. the aforementioned "Capital" and "Maggot" just drip with furious raging anger. "Hertz" is that garage rock revival sounding song, but damn it has a brashness and coolness that is unmatched and a chorus that reaffirms my love of punk rock. "Choices" is a badass song all about saying fuck you to people trying to control you and tell you what to do. Yeah its as simple and simply perfect as that. Etec etc, there are more brilliant punk jams here. Its a solid through and through hard pummeling balls to the wall adrenalized punk rock album of albums.

If you love '73-'78 Johnny Thunders/Heartnreakers/NY Dolls projects, early Sex Pistols (lol, I like saying early pistols), Saints, Dead Boys, Radio Birdman, X-Ray Spex etc ... or Garage punk and Garage Rock Revival bands like Jay Reatard, King Khan, or early Hives, etc... then you will like this a lot methinks. Its just so great!