For Shanks' third full length album, the Canadian duo prove that a rock'n'roll attitude can make up for a lack of band members.
"We cut thick and heavy so you don't need to" is the tagline on their website and in the merchandise section you can buy a butcher's apron adorned with this slogan.
The carnivore connection is by way of a tribute to the sheep flock in the hills near the town of Mono, Ontario which kept the pair company (and perhaps well-fed) as they recorded in an agricultural shed.
If this sounds faintly eccentric, then a glance at their press photos in neo military costumes will show that Ian Donald Starkey (vocals/guitar) and John David Brummel (drums) look every bit as barmy as their stage names: Pistolwhip von Shankenstein and Colonel Crankshaft respectively.
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The music itself is of the fairly standard post-punk glam meets grunge variety in which hints of straight pop songs are ruthlessly buried under muddy riffs.
The album kicks off promisingly with the strident chords of the single - Tenderizer but when nine further tracks prove to be variations of this same formula it all gets a tad repetitive way before the closing track Waltz supplies their grand 'exit music' finale.
Not the new White Stripes.
Shanks Website
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