Deaf Rhino - Dirt, Rust, Chaos (2015)

Ever wondered what the Foo Fighters would sound like if, instead of being millionaires playing to tens of thousands of people every night, they played in some squalid basement with instruments held together by gaffa tape? Well, that is pretty much New Jersey rockers Deaf Rhino in a nutshell.

Their self-released album, Dirt, Rust, Chaos, is full of rough, dirty, hooky riffs. From the distorted rock of opener "Ghosts" through the indie swagger of "Infinity" to the fuzzy, instrument-battering blast of "Hey You", Dirt, Rust, Chaos is the culmination of months travelling the country in a battered van to play shitty dive after shitty dive just to get a gig. It may be a rough-sounding album, the riffs may sound like they're played through battered amps, but it just gives the whole thing an authentic feel that many rock albums lack these days. With hints of all your favourite guitar rock bands, from Foo Fighters to Arctic Monkeys to Queens Of The Stone Age, "The Dance Of You" and "Once In A Lifetime" bring this album to a massive-sounding climax as Deaf Rhino throw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix.

Sounding like a very "live" album, Dirt, Rust, Chaos is for those of you who like to mix up your rock with a bit of indie. There's a bit of everything on here and, when it clicks together, as it does for the most part of this album, the end result is a brash-sounding, rifftastic rock n' roll album that's both sweaty and loud as hell!