The title's perfectly indicative of the music that plays from the series of pockets and peaks on the underside of this new disc from the now six-legged* Immortal Lee County Killers*: These Bones Will Rise To Love You Again is booze-soaked blues stir-fried in some fiery southern rawk, one eye on the doting wife and another on the dollar whore. It's brilliantly bipolar and deliciously decadent; it's considerably more 'authentic' in feel than a million others masquerading as 'punk'.
That said, These Bones... splutters its way through its opening trio. Percussive bombast and gigantic slabs of organ (courtesy of nimble-fingered newbie Jeff Goodwin) pepper all three, yet the pop-friendly swagger of 'Revolution Summer' seems misplaced so early into the album experience. Better is song four, 'Boom Boom', which heralds the beginning of the rock proper; a stomping, incessantly pounding two-and-something minutes of fuzzy fret boards mounting an assault on a devilishly simple sing-along chorus, 'Boom Boom' is the finest of the Killers' more rollicking efforts here.
Yet the distortion lets up for a brace of gentle, almost Angels Of Light-style death ballads: 'Stitched In Sin' and the closer, the a cappella 'No More My Lord'. Both are shot through with a feeling of isolation and are entirely unlike the remainder of the record. They lend These Bones... a subtle air of romanticism, and a semblance of exploitable humanity that's drowned elsewhere by super-sized amplification. While these suited 'n' booted Killers might well flick a wink and a glance towards the mistress, you know the finest punks always go back to their missus come the day's end.
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7Mike Diver's Score