The Austin, Texas four-piece Gentlemen Rogues know how to navigate around a punk, indie-rock and power-pop tune, and this LP combines plenty of that as they slap a pair of remixed and remastered EPs together to form a full album and toss in three bonus tracks, too.
“Your Armageddon” starts the listening with a swirling mix of post-punk meets modern indie-rock, where the bass acrobatics are quite mesmerizing and complement the soaring, melodic singing. “Empathy For The Devil” follows with a punchy delivery that touches on garage-rock, and “Mocking Love Out Of Nothing At All” continues the energy with plenty of tuneful grit that sounds right at home on the Merge Records catalog during its heyday.
“Thin As Thieves” and “Cap In Hand” exit side A, where the former hits a little harder with firm drumming in its driving nature, while the latter jangles a bit in a calmer delivery of dreamy songcraft.
The back half of the record leads with the shimmering guitar and pounding drums of the angular “Pact And Ready To Go,” and “C’mon, Release Me” follows with a bright power-pop-meets-punk-rock album highlight that’s soaked in rugged harmony. The final pair of tracks on the physical release don’t disappoint either, where “Black Film” showcases the detailed rhythm section alongside the sing-along qualities, and “Strawberry Moon” exits the formal listen with plenty of ’90s alt-rock ideas in the balance of power and melody.
Of the three bonus tracks (the LP download card includes them), Morrissey’s “Last Of The Famous International Playboys” is particularly noteworthy and puts a crunchy, punk spin on the classic, and might be one of the best covers related to The Smiths in recent history.
If records like Sugar’s Copper Blue, Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque and Nada Surf’s High/Low are in your collection, you really need to hear A History Of Fatalism.
