Londoners Magazine

Artist: The Dirtbombs
Album: We Have You Surrounded
Label: In The Red
Released: 31 March 2008

The Detroit fuzz kings take on the apocalypse. With mixed results, writes Chris Lo.

The Dirtbombs have always been more than a simple garage rock band. From their distinctive set up (two basses, one guitar, two drum sets), to their kaleidoscopic range of influences, Mick Collins’s motor city collective specialise in mashing their favourite sounds to create a dirty, soulful mess.

We Have You Surrounded was originally conceived as a five-track EP based on the dark themes of inner city paranoia and urban decline. The length of time since the band’s last full-length album (2003’s Dangerous Magical Noise) led to it being upgraded to a 12-track LP.

Unfortunately, Collins’ original instincts were dead-on - the album feels like five great tracks with some fillers tacked on for padding.

At its best, it’s completely essential. “Ever Lovin’ Man” is as good a song as the band have ever performed, a thunderous blast of grimy backstreet rock n roll with an jubilantly unhinged central hook. Leopardman At C&A, with lyrics provided by graphic novelist Alan Moore, is the album’s masterpiece. Moore’s dystopian imagery mixes with the band’s energetic riffing, creating a grim, perfect soundtrack to the end of the world.

But it’s the quality of the album’s core tracks (funnily enough, there are about five of them) that expose the weakness of the rest of the album. “Pretty Princess Day” is a toothless, dull track that sounds like the first recording of a high school band, and “Race to the Bottom” is an eight-minute experimentation in noise that sounds like Daleks having sex. But in a really boring way.

“We Have You Surrounded” would have made a truly great apocalyptic five-track lightning strike. But as a full-length album, it’s just good. And for the Dirtbombs, good just ain’t good enough.