ALBUM REVIEW: Boneshaker – Airbourne

Everybody needs a staple in their life, something that they can grasp to for stability when times get tough. For music fans, that can be as simple as a band who outright refuse to change their outlook on their style, their ethos and their desire to give the world exactly what they can offer. AIRBOURNE are one of those bands. Since their 2007 debut Running Wild, they have been the undisputed kings of fast paced rock ‘n’ roll and they continued that late last month with Boneshaker, their fifth studio album currently available via Spinefarm Records.

Clocking in at just over half an hour long, Boneshaker represents AIRBOURNE‘s shortest album to date; ten songs of adrenaline-fuelled hard rock that have no trouble in getting fists pumping and bodies moving from the moment the title track kicks in through to the rousing finale of Rock ‘n’ Roll for Life. Like previous efforts, there are songs about cars and bikes in Burn Out the Nitro, women in Sex to Go and She Gives Me Hell and gunning for a fight in This Is Our City, all of which are delivered with the gusto and panache that has made AIRBOURNE so beloved for many a year.

However, there is also a big curveball in Weapon of War, which features a spoken word intro from a soldier recovering at home and is much darker in tone as it discusses the horrors of war and tragedies of conflict. The band are no strangers to taking a more serious approach to their lyrics, having done so with Bottom of the Well on 2010’s No Guts, No Glory, but it’s certainly refreshing to hear them take on a more sombre subject and pull it off in excellent fashion. Oh, and there’s a song about a shark in Blood in the Water, because of course there is.

Two individuals need a special mention in relation to Boneshaker and the first is Matt ‘Harri’ Harrison, the newest member of AIRBOURNE on rhythm guitar and taking the mantle from David Roads, who left two years prior. He has slotted into the fold seamlessly and compliments Joel O’Keefe perfectly, providing a solid foundation for the frontman’s solos to ring out impressively. The other one is Dave Cobb, who handled production duties. More associated with country records, the man is a rocker at heart and he has taken the bull by the horns very well indeed; the sound is crisp, well-balanced and allows each song to breathe in its own way, resulting in a record that you will want to spin multiple times in a row.

Bands doing the same thing over and over again brings about the danger of growing stale and fading from prominence – just look at STEEL PANTHER. But AIRBOURNE are proof that this isn’t always the case and Boneshaker is another feelgood album that will ensure their stock remains high for the next few years. As is said on their track Raise the Flag, as long as we’re alive and they’re alive, rock and roll will never die and once more they’ve proved that in the best way possible.

Rating: 8/10

Boneshaker is out now via Spinefarm Records.

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