Review: The Guns
The Guns (also known as TMFG or The Mother F***ing Guns) have a rich Welsh heritage having played shows with bands like the Lost Prophets, The Blackout and Funeral For A Friend, but their sound is inherently American. Their second album: F*** The Demon Outta Me, released independently on 21st November 2011 is an exciting mix of sexy, bluesy numbers and fuzzed out, energetic guitar pieces making for a varied selection of tunes.
The album opens with Daughter of A Bad Man; a seductive, bluesy piece reminiscent of early Kings of Leon with a Jace Everett edge that later gets truly realised in Voodoo Boogie. The song splits about halfway through into a fast paced piece of guitar work with female backing, gearing you up for the excitement that the rest of this album will hold.
Missing Girls opens with Blue Oyster Cult-style cowbell that Christopher Walken would be proud of, with swelling vocals and an infectious riff. While Nighty Night Creeping starts with a gritty bassline and low gruff vocals superimposed over the lead singers own melodic voice.
My personal favourite track: Voodoo Boogie is the best example of blues-rock on the album. Complete with clicking fingers, a New Orleans-worthy riff and haunting backing vocals; it is ironic that the lyrics state “I am more rock and roll than you will ever see” as TMFG prove themselves to be a beautiful hybrid of the two styles throughout this sexy, grimy album.
Alex Wiltshire’s vocals are flexible and sensual, moving from gritty blue low notes to rock falsetto with ease. The guitar (Wiltshire, Adam Turner and Tom Coburn) and drums (Chris Davies) mould themselves around the slow southern stylings as well as boost themselves through the frenetic rock sounds seamlessly, often even in the space of one song as with Daughter Of A Bad Man.
The highlight of this album would have to be the third track and apparent fan favourite the 2010 single: Treacle And Pie. The lyrics (”That ass and those eyes; they go together like treacle and pie”) as well as the rock falsetto mixed with female backing add great humour to this album whilst also adding to the southern state feel of the music.
This album is nothing if not varied and you are introduced to a cross section of styles and genres while still maintaining a coherent theme and atmosphere. TMFG are a highly talented and versatile band and this album proves this with its exciting selection of songs showing each of the band members' talents to their full potential.
F*** The Demon Outta Me is available on iTunes as well as via The Guns' Official Site.
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3 Comments – Post a comment
tommy b
Commented 4 months ago - 12th January 2012 - 11:51am
good review :) i have to say, they're a very good live outfit but I find their music difficult to listen to on record
acatris
Commented 4 months ago - 12th January 2012 - 18:25pm
I actually quite enjoyed listening to this album. It did have a very Kings of Leon feel to it and the bluesy numbers broke up the harder rock songs nicely so it wasn't too difficult. Although I would imagine that they are much more fun and energetic live.
neilramsden
Commented 4 months ago - 13th January 2012 - 15:35pm
Just went off to listen to this after your review (I really like early KoL so it sounded interesting) and I really like it! Cheers :)