The Turbo AC’s are a band that have worked really hard, and endured many problems, to get to where they are today. Since their first release in 1996, the AC’s have toured the US and Europe endlessly, often with little or no label support. However, the band persevered and built a strong fan base due to their extensive touring. Now the band are releasing their fourth studio album, ‘Automatic’, via Bitzcore, who also happen to be their fourth label.
For those of you that are yet to hear the AC’s some form of musical description is in order. Imagine the country infused punk of Social Distortion, mixed with Misfits style choruses and a healthy dose of street punk attitude. The whole AC’s sound is topped off with a passing nod to Motorhead. In short these guys play punk rock at a hundred miles an hour. If you’re expecting original and diverse music you best look elsewhere, because this is an album that wears its heart on its sleeve and goes straight down the middle.
‘Mafioso’ kicks things off with a sonic assault to the senses. Energetic and fast guitar riffs work around some heavy drumming and the customary sing along chorus, with Kevin’s vocals sounding as attitude packed as ever. This is followed in a flash by one of the best tracks on the album. ‘Nightmare’ has the one of the best gang style choruses the band have written. Admittadly the Turbo AC’s by numbers approach does grate at times, but when the songs are as good as this one you won’t care. The band do show a hint of change at times, most notably on the great cover of the instrumental classic, ‘Apache’.
As has been mentioned, the band don’t vary the musical blueprint too much, but then that’s not what this band is about. They stick to what they know best, and it’s an approach that means long-term fans will enjoy what is on offer here. The likes of ‘collision course’, ‘perfect crime’ and ‘way of the devil’ fail to break new ground, but they’re damn good songs all the same.
‘Automatic’ is simply a Turbo AC’s album, nothing more, nothing less. The band play punk rock the way they want to play it, and they do it very effectively. It’s not an album that will appeal to everyone, but if you want a healthy dose of spiky, infectious rock, you could do a lot worse than this.
Mark