Album Reviews

On their first new album in eight years, Australia’s The Living End take it all the way back to their first releases and fire off 11 rock ‘n’ roll missiles, all of which hit dead center.

With I Only Trust Rock n Roll, the band set out to tap into the naïve fire and fury of their youth and to stay away from making a big, over-the-top record with 100 parts. Well, mission accomplished. The 25+ years of songwriting experience shine bright in songs like ‘Roller’, the poppier ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘Public Holiday’, but by trimming all the fat they ended up with eleven lean, mean rock n roll tunes. And in a time where every other band describes itself is “genre-defying”, it’s actually refreshing to listen to a band burn through some straight-forward rock n roll tunes that set the place ablaze.