The BronxV

If you look at an album review from L.A. outfit The Bronx from the last five years or so (go on, we’ll wait…), you’re likely to find a variation on this theme: “[insert Roman numeral here] is a return to the band’s punk rock roots.” And while this assertion is somewhat dubious on the surface, it’s not entirely without precedent. In nearly a decade, The Bronx have only released one full-length album (2013’s well-received IV), and have instead spent much of that time exploring the malleability of mariachi music, under the guise of their festive alter ego, Mariachi El Bronx.

But here’s the thing: if you take a deep dive across the band’s catalogue, it’s hard to find any justification that the band ever deviated from those roots in the first place. Speaking on the band’s fifth album V, guitarist Joby J. Ford described the record as having “the angst and social commentary that has characterised us from the beginning, only now the angst is aimed at more than just superficial things and the social commentary is directed at more than just people who like different music than us.” It seems that on their latest record, The Bronx are older and wiser, realising that perhaps the most ‘punk rock’ thing to do, is not play punk rock at all. And in this respect, V has a little something for everyone.

While V may not be as electrifying as II, or immediately catchy as IV, it still beats the piss out of whatever soulless cash-cow they’re likely flogging on the radio.

Lead single Sore Throat and album opener Night Drop at the Glue Factory rip just as hard as the band’s early piss and vinegar bangers—fast, bouncy and vitriolic. The group has a stab at glitzy hard rock with Two Birds, which mostly works, while Past Away is classic Bronx all the way: punchy verses, soaring choruses and frontman Matt Caughtran’s enviable vocal range. The lead riff in Side Effects is a definite ear worm, even if the pop-rock of Channel Islands or the dramatic turns of Fill The Tanks are mostly forgettable. The back end of the record features the fuzzed-out Broken Arrow, a moody call-to-riot in Cordless Kids (which works in a late 90s Foo Fighters vibe), and a perfect album closer in the form of Kingsize—a textbook example of pop-balladry chased with a shot of whiskey.

While V may not be as electrifying as II, or immediately catchy as IV, it still beats the piss out of whatever soulless cash-cow they’re likely flogging on the radio. The Bronx diehards will be stoked regardless, and there’s enough variation here to hook even the most quizzical of newcomers. Punk rock certainly isn’t dead; The Bronx just got smarter at being alive. As Caughthran muses on Two Birds, “What happens next?/Who fucking cares?”

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Clowns, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes & QOTSA
STANDOUT TRACKS: Sore Throat, Cordless Kids & Kingsize

V will be available from September 22nd via White Drugs/Cooking Vinyl Australia.