Gloucestershire's Broken Jaw have mixed punk and metal into one finely tuned partying machine on their upcoming sophomore record, 'No-OnE cArEs!'. With ten songs of varying levels of silly, and a pretty consistent level of heavy, they're here to have some fun and maybe take your eardrums for granted.
First up we rock and roll our way straight into the title track of the album, and one thing's for sure - it can never be said that Broken Jaw don't know how to emphasise something. Not only do the album and first song share a title, the first words said are the same and in fact are repeated over and over for an intro until vocalist Nutzie Shelley launches the song off the edge with a monstrous growl. The song features plenty of the standard tenets of both punk and metal, with screams and riffs and pummelling drum lines galore. 'Caviar & Cigarettes' continues this trend, with some particularly impressive double bass drum work as well as some more punky lyrics to begin with and even what sounds like the somewhat late entry of my true favourite instrument, the cowbell!
Afterwards comes the second of the singles released thus far, the ludicrous 'Pineapple Pizza'. The only way to describe the treatment of the bass drum in this song is an obliteration, so if you're a fan of your tech death drumming, a large swathe of this will be completely up your street - and any fans of a fruity pizza will also find a lot to latch onto! The third and final single comes immediately afterwards, and 'Chicken Nugs' is another track rife with unseriousness. For those who enjoy a nice post-drink chicken nugget or ten, you'll find a relative love song to that exact activity tucked away at the fourth spot on the album.
As we make our way towards the halfway mark we meet 'Melt', which has both the heaviest vocals thus far and then briefly the most snotty, snarky punk vocals right after. This feels a little more nu-metally than the previous songs, with a good groove and bounce as well as some seriously high levels of attitude that'll feel like home to any fans of Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. Track six, 'One Ply Bogroll', is an ode to the plight of poor quality toilet paper demonstrated wonderfully by the line "F*ck this (x6) one ply bogroll!". 'Serpents Lair' almost goes into straight up death metal, and without a few of the less heavy vocals it would probably class as one! Bassist Josh Hughes and Nutzie are clearly working overtime on vocals, alongside the perenially crazy drummer Sean Watkins. There are also some particularly satisfying pinch harmonics and squeals here, courtesy of Sam Aston and John Virgo's guitar-weilding ability.
'Lighter Fluid' is no less intense, and has yet more of the obscene drumming we've almost come to expect now from Mr Watkins. Yet more riffs spill out of the song, and Broken Jaw feel like they're very comfortably in their stride. Even though we are nearly at the end of the album, the five piece have not slowed up or faltered once yet. 'Milk Guns Honey' threads the needle of nu-metal and death metal for the majority of it's runtime, which seem to be two of the biggest influences over the album and have come together very well here. At the end of the album, the song 'SYSTEM ERROR' meets us face to face to walk us to the pearly gates at the end of the record. Letting the quiet intro lull is into a relative sense of security, they then throw us into the deep end of a nicely swung groove with gutturals galore atop it. This has the feel of the slowest track on the album, but also has the most overtly singalong-able chorus, and right towards the end we even get some more of the mental double bass that's surely plagued the chest cavities of many.
On 'No-OnE cArEs!', Broken Jaw have set up shop around a musical concept and defended it with their lives. Whilst I wouldn't suggest that subtlety is their strong suit, they know what they're good at and do it very well - that being, slightly silly and pretty heavy punkish metal. With a mischievous grin and a cowbell, Broken Jaw have come out with a very solid offering that'll keep you entertained throughout.
Words: Jake Longhurst
Photos: Me
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