Amyl & the Sniffers are a pub/punk rock band from Melbourne, Australia consisting of drummer Bryce Wilson, guitarist Declan Martens, bassist Gus Romer & frontwoman Amy Taylor. Breaking out in the mid-2010s off their first couple EPs Giddy Up & Big Attraction, this resulted in them signing with ATO Records for their eponymous full-length debut & Comfort to Me. The latter of which became my introduction to them since it came out not long after current Monday Night RAW superstar, former 6-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE tag team champion, 2-time AEW World Champion, inaugural ROH Hall of Fame inductee, ROH World Champion & 2-time ROH World Tag Team Champion CM Punk who later albeit unsuccessfully competed in the UFC division of the Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings made his in-ring return at the greatest AEW pay-per-view of all-time All Out III & he was giving it heavy props. Should further mention his role in being the guest referee when the current NXT Champion Trick Williams began his ongoing 2nd reign. B2B Records not too long ago signed a distribution deal with Virgin Music & are celebrating with their 3rd album.
The garage rock revival “Jerkin’” was a mediocre choice of a single telling obsessed losers who’re chronically online that Amy’s more successful than them & they’ll never get with her whereas “Chewing Gum” heads for a garage punk direction singing about being stuck to her new romantic interest. “Tiny Bikini” dabbles with hard rock discussing themes of feminism wanting to wear nothing but a bikini, but then “Big Dreams” forays into hard rock to sing about never being the dull one.
“It’s Mine” goes head-on riot grrrl come and clean it if she likes it it’ll eventually become her’s while the appropriately titled “Motorbike Song” serves as this rebellious head-banging anthem that I can most definitely hear Harley Davidson riders blasting as they’re driving around the city. “Doing In Me Head” admits that she’s sick of promising everyone that she’s the same as others embracing the hard rock vibes once again just before “Pigs” explaining that she doesn’t like the idea of conformity.
Meanwhile on “Bailing on Me”, we have Amy & company showing a bit of a White Stripes influence expressing the too familiar feeling of heartbreak prior to “U Should Not Be Doing That” fusing garage punk with garage rock revival alongside dance-punk & glam punk sings about knowing her worth. “Do It Do It” asks her lover all these questions maintaining a punk edge while “Going Somewhere” asks to turn off your phone & your thoughts altogether. “Me & the Girls” finishes by telling a story of her & her friends being wasted at the airport.
Cartoon Darkness in the grand scheme of things happens to be a conceptual LP revolving around the fact that our generation is spoon-fed information in addition to climate crisis, war, A.I., tiptoeing on the eggshells of politics & people feeling like they’re helping by having a voice online when we’re all just feeding the data beast of Big Tech. They drive headfirst into the unknown into this looming sketch of the future that feels terrible despite that it doesn’t even exist yet by expanding their garage punk sound beyond post-punk, hardcore punk, riot grrrl, glam punk, garage rock revival & hard rock.
Score: 4.5/5
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