Does it give you the horn, or get your goat?
Dirt Mall are the bastard sons of AC/DC, Buckcherry and The Hellacopters, which lets face it isn’t a bad thing, although the band that I think that they sound most like are LA’s lesser known dirty Rock’n’Rollers Junkyard, with singer Johnny Anguish sounding like the aforementioned band’s lead singer David Roach.
I’ve always been a fan of this Blues influenced Sleaze-Rock, however the bottom line is that if this was 1988-1991 then Dirt Mall would be on the verge of a stadium tour, but of course this is 2008, and whilst personally short sharp bursts of whiskey soaked gutter rock makes my heart beat fast and my hands get clammy, the rest of the music population are salivating over something completely different.
‘Got The Goat By The Horns’ has eight songs that for the most part are 2-3 minutes long (‘The Demons & The Damned being the 9 minute exception!). ‘Hello Los Angeles’ starts off the album with big trusty guitar riffs, that have that slightly cooler-than-Status-Quo simple riff going on that is just so Rock’n’Roll y’all! This then leads us to the drug fuelled song, ‘Medicate (Today)’ that sounds slightly more American Hi-Fi from their ‘Art Of Rebellion’ album. It’s mid-tempo with the high range vocals mixing again with some solid guitars. “Hey! // Get off the drugs! // You gotta medicate today! // Medicate today!” go the lyrics in a rebel rousing self-help kind of a way…
‘Hopeless Bore’ has an early Junkyard feel mixed with some classic Hellacopters, and like a lot of the rock bands from the ‘80’s you get the feeling that Dirt Mall grew up listening to Rock’n’Roll unlike a lot of bands today whose musical history lies solely in the Syth Pop of the ’80’s. On contrast to a lot of this album, ‘Rows’ has a slightly more Punky edge in a Iggy Pop and Generation X kind of way smashing it’s way above any Blues influenced Rock with a snarl and a rebel yell!
Now epic songs have to have something about them to keep you interested for a long period, and make you want to listen to the song again. Skynyrd’s ‘Freebird’ has the amazing solo that goes on and on, whilst G’N’R’s song, ‘Coma’ has enough separate parts that through the story of a guy in a coma keeps you hooked without you becoming bored, and the same could be said for the 11 minute song, ‘Deathbed’ by Relient K, however with the 9 minutes here in, ‘The Demons & The Damned’ it is almost 3 minutes before the song kicks in from a Stoner Rock repetitive riff, to any vocals and whilst the song is okay, it’s not amazing which a long song has to be I’m afraid.
However bringing us back on track is, ‘Step Up’ with an AC/DC riff that Angus Young would be happy with, it’s a head banging and foot tapping masterpiece…whilst the epically titled song, ‘I’m Not Saying What You Did Was Wrong But Your Timing Could Have Been Better’ which could be a big jam between The Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd and T-Rex. It’s straight up rock’n’roll with some ‘70’s injection of rock attitude and a slight Southern Rock feel…nice stuff. This only leaves us with the slow and rather contemplative last track, ‘Ghosts Descend’ that has a haunting rock quality of The Doors if they really let rip with guitars and blew up their organ…
This is the sort of music that will always have a fan base, and whilst bands like Jet have had a stab at it, Dirt Mall haven’t been enticed to record a commercial album, or to outwardly copy the exact blue print of other successful bands, and arguably whilst this is worth a big hat tip and head nod, it could also be the band’s downfall too. ‘Got The Goat By The Horns’ is an instantly likeable album as a whole, however individually not too many songs stand out and you wonder whether 6 months, or a year down the line, whether this album will still be hanging out near your CD Player or lost under your Pixies and Janes Addiction CD’s…