Band: Dangerous Curves Album: “So Dirty Right” Label: Independent Release date: April 6, 2018 Country: Australia Format reviewed: FLAC
The Glam Metal (an integral part of Hard Rock) of the mid 80’s into the early 90s was at the time, a very well regarded rock/metal genre, receiving ample airtime on music TV and on dedicated FM radio stations across the globe. Glam Metal was then considered mainstream, and it’s popularity helped usher in many other rock/metal styles to the discovery and enjoinment of the masses. By the mid 90s, Glam Metal has been scraped by all major labels and it ceased to exist in it’s “glory days” form – a fact most rock music fans are familiar with. Some efforts were made by well-established acts of the genre, to revive it into the new millennium, but unfortunately, the vast majority fell short. That is not to say that quality Hard Rock albums were not released. However, none were able to capture the real essence of Glam Metal from it’s glory days. One of the acts that captured said essence to a large extent, in the most recent years is the Finnish band Santa Cruz. With that said, it wasn’t until earlier this year, on April 6th, when a young band from Geelong, Australia, managed to bring back, at full magnitude, the quality Glam Metal that most of us fans, believed to be gone and buried. This band is DANGEROUS CURVES!
Growing up, I was exposed to a large variety of music, including to what it’s now considered the classics of rock. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC and The Eagles are fine examples of acts that I was familiar with from a young age. Growing up behind the Iron Curtain made it very difficult to be exposed to the newer musical trends of the West, specifically in the 80s. A total censorship of western rock/metal music was in place. Rock & metal LPs and tapes were verboten by the communist regime, and nearly impossible to procure. New releases were smuggled-in via bootleg tapes. Two short-wave radio stations aimed against the communist authorities in Eastern Europe, Voice Of America and Radio Free Europe, aired rock music programs, exposing the eastern block audience to the newest trends in the genre. In our early teens, a schoolmate and I, upon listening to one of these radio programs on Voice Of America, decided to write a letter requesting a tape. A couple of months later, a 90 minutes audio tape miraculously arrived in the mail. On side A: Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet”, and Europe’s “The Final Countdown” on side B. Game changer! Glam Metal became the core of my love and passion for all things rock & metal.
Fast forward 30 plus years: the hopes for a quality Glam Metal new release, able to mimic what is now considered relics of the past, has diminished drastically. Most of the established bands of the genre’s past are still touring on the laurels of their heydays. Newer materials, while some great, not up to snuff. On a late April night, while browsing Bandcamp, I stumble upon an independently released album, tagged “glam metal”, by an unknown (to me) Australian band, DANGEROUS CURVES. The album, titled “So Dirty Right”, is precisely what I’ve lust for all these years: unapologetic, fun and anthemic Glam Metal. The incredible part being: Glam Metal, once a mainstream genre, is now an integral part of the underground!
The newly crowned kings of Glam Metal, DANGEROUS CURVES, formed in 2015 and released their self-titled debut EP in 2016. The band’s line-up remained unchanged since formation: Kym Britten (vocals), Cammy Paul (guitars), Ziggy Robertson (bass), and Luke Chapman (drums). After countless gigs, around their home state, the Geelong boys reentered the studio, this time Melbourne’s Monolith Studios, where Chris Themelco recorded, engineered and produced their full-length debut, “So Dirty Right”. Self-evident is the band’s inspiration from superstar acts such as Bon Jovi, KISS and Van Halen, etc. and their achievement in recreating the 80s L.A. styled rock and roll, with a few modern twists thrown in the mix. They would’ve been right at home performing at any of the famed rock clubs on the Sunset Strip, at the end of the 80s. Unmistakable is the band’s ardent esteem for the glorious past of Glam Metal while re-enacting a joyous and familiar vibe, not by recycling the past, but by constructing ten undeniably new and exciting tracks on their release. The songs are upbeat, sing-along-able, with great guitar hooks and solos, catchy lyrics and huge drums – anthems that would’ve filled stadiums not that long ago. For good measures, the acoustic stuff is there, and so it is the obligatory power ballad (lighter appropriate). There are no mediocre songs on this album. All compositions, arrangements and performances, are well and enthusiastically rendered! This is not Poison (sorry, Poison fans). “So Dirty Right” feels right at home alongside vibrantly guitar driven releases by SouthGang, Beau Nasty, Lancia, Heaven’s Edge, Lynch Mob, Flame, and Shark Island, among others. I don’t care if lyrically some content is not politically correct, or offensive to some ears. This style of music is about fun and about having fun. Sterility needs no apply. Deal with it!
In a world of hassle and incertitude, the almost forgotten vibe of party rock, as present on DANGEROUS CURVES’ “So Dirty Right” is a welcome diversion from current realities, a throwback to a less complicated time. Highly recommended. Party like it’s 1988 and most importantly, have fun! 9/10
© 2018 by Emil Chiru
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