Debut albums are supposed to sound fresh. You’ve had your whole life to write them, after all. What Casket Rats have made instead is something gloriously sleazy—and it absolutely should be.
This isn’t some bright-eyed new outfit, either. Frontman Keith Bennett is a lifer of the Boston hardcore scene—Wrecking Crew, PanzerBastard, Death Ray Vision—and he brings all that road-worn grit with him. Even their name, taken from their Allston home, tells you what you’re in for. And make no mistake: “Rat City Rockers” knows exactly what it wants to be.
“Blood in the Water” opens with danger dripping off it like sweat down a strip-club pole. It’s in the riffs, in the solos, in the attitude. Whatever rock ’n’ roll means to you, this is the place to start looking for it.
“Whiskey Queen” swaggers down the wrong side of the tracks, a proper low-slung boogie.
“Stealin’” is pure cathouse groove—nastier and greasier than anything the Rainbow could conjure on a Saturday night.
If “All She Wrote” shares a title with an old FireHouse tune, that’s where the overlap ends; this one sounds positively delighted she walked out.
Then “Au Revoir” comes along to underline a simple truth: this is just a really good rock ’n’ roll record. Hooky, sharp, and done with the sort of confidence bands usually grow into, not start with.
“Looking For Some” is built on those big, chunky riffs the 80s promised and only occasionally delivered. You can already picture the fists in the air when this one lands live.
“What’s the Problem” carries a tinge of AC/DC about it—but honestly, shouldn’t all rock ’n’ roll? Only here it feels like AC/DC if they’d joined a biker gang for the weekend.
If the whole album has been flirting with NWOBHM tendencies, then “Watch It Burn” dives straight in. A slow-burn build that eventually catches fire and roars before the finish.
Closer “Bad Times” pulls things back, adds a little harmony, and proves they can ease off without losing an ounce of identity.
Someone told me recently—one of those pricks who probably calls themselves a “tastemaker”—that rock ’n’ roll was dead. No one bothered to tell Casket Rats.
Rating: 8.5/10
