ALBUM REVIEW: Sublime Destruction – Desperate Measures

London rockers DESPERATE MEASURES have put out their latest album Sublime Destruction. The band themselves love to focus on the loud, chaotic side of the rock spectrum with their combination of punk with melodic rock ‘n’ roll. In short, they want you to hear and remember their name, a feat that they mostly achieve but occasionally fall flat on during this record.

Things start out strong with Back To The Rats that opens with a loud, distorted guitar that’s then joined by an anthemic choir of voices before things fully kick off. The style of the production gives you flashbacks to the low-quality recordings of early punk bands as the movement kicked off in the 70s, and it perfectly captures a chaotic live performance.

Moving onto Pocket, the production starts to sound far more polished. Here the listener is more able to hear the rock ‘n’ roll side of things as there’s a fantastic intro of drums and guitar, before their punk influences return to the fore as soon as the vocals come in, complete with a catchy chorus. For the next few songs, things sound fantastic in many ways, from the title track that seems to experiment with pop-punk and has you feeling nostalgic; to The Rich-Tual that frankly sounds cool and confident with its anthemic vocals; and into Enjoy The Ride that appears to have some grunge influence.

However, there are some moments that are a little disappointing. Songs like Lost Angels and Flowers At Your Door, while not necessarily bad, are rather dull in comparison to the others and feel rather stereotypical in the realms of what makes a rock track. Sure, it might sound decent, but you lose interest rather quickly. A further criticism comes with concluding track Still Got Me; the instrumentals sound incredible but the vocals are distracting as it sounds like they are trying to be cool and dramatic yet feel forced.

But things are easily forgiven with the likes of Thinking Of England, which features what sounds like an old radio broadcast before things kick back into that fast punk sound that DESPERATE MEASURES are so good at. There’s also a lot to be praised about recent single Seven Sisters, which includes elements from goth-rock and horror punk in its sound effects, making it a track that truly stands out on the album.

Overall Sublime Destruction is a mostly solid effort. When DESPERATE MEASURES get it right they sound great and truly in their element in the world of punk, yet when they don’t, they sound rather dull and uninteresting. But luckily for them, they mostly get it right and have created some fantastic tracks here.

Rating: 7/10

Sublime Destruction is out now via Cadiz Music.

Like DESPERATE MEASURES on Facebook.