Riotous Bristol punks Split Dogs bring a welcome blast of rock’n’roll to the party on second album Here To Destroy…
Split Dogs give every impression of a bunch of punks with no time to waste. The songs on Here To Destroy pile into each other to form a non-stop blast of raucous energy, providing a parallel to their hard-gigging, no-nonsense approach to the business of being in a band. Charging past in significantly less than half an hour, these nine tunes are an artfully unpretentious joy.
The most prominent proponent of this take-no-shit attitude is vocalist Harry Atkins, the sort of ringleader who would surely lift any musical outfit into wider visibility. Not that there’s any lack of arse-kicking evident in their bandmates’ contributions, gunning here for energised rock’n’roll. Comparisons can certainly be made to the current scene of pub rock/punk shenanigans coming out of Australia, while the unstoppable riffage of imperial period Motörhead frequently rears its head, not least on the speed-fuelled Animal or Meg.
While things don’t quite stretch sonically as far as the Northern Soul hymned in Lafayette, Harry’s homage to their mother’s clubbing days, there’s nonetheless a lyrical signpost there to an awareness of Britain’s grass roots music history. Elsewhere, opener Stay Tuned demands a ‘factory reset’ for a society drifting into tech-dystopia while And What? is an especially effective distillation of the Bristolians’ denim-clad defiance.
Labelmates with the likes of Bob Vylan and High Vis, but equally at home playing shows with old-school punks like GBH or Subhumans, Split Dogs are an irrepressible, irresistible band ready to blast your 2025 into orbit. Here To Destroy is their essential manual for street level rock thrills.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Amyl And The Sniffers, The Hip Priests, Chubby And The Gang
Here To Destroy is released on February 28 via Venn
