Los Dryheavers
“Self-Titled”
(Pandacide Records)
Another ‘Can you guess what this sounds like by the band name?’ release. If you guessed street-inspired drunk punk with a Rancid meets Ramones vibe, you win. And here’s the prize. The first song, “Sometimes No Means Maybe” is nice and gritty with its snotty vocals and speedy tempo. The second song rocks out with a similar ‘tude and tempo and song three is more of the same, but in Spanish, which is cool. The next 10 songs, unfortunately, don’t change from this format. Fast, contempt-filled gutter rock anthems alternating between English and Spanish. The Dry Heavers give us an energetic variation on this style of hard rock trash, with their dual rockabilly-tinged wah wah guitars and pedal-to-the-metal rhythms, ripping through this long player in just over 22 minutes. It just sounds like the same old song and dance, but with a penchant for dual language assault. Having played with the U.S. Bombs, Total Chaos and Fear sounds like it has helped their style, but the only thing fresh here is the ink on the CD booklet. The sound is not new, just well done. It’s a damn shame Los Dryheavers couldn’t hurl up a splash of something inventive.
