Dirt CityDirt City (EP)

With a name like Dirt City, you’d expect there to be some grime in their sound, and these Sydney guys don’t disappoint. By grime, we mean grit, of course, not the UK EDM thing. 

MORE: AVATAR: Dancing With The Devil // TROPHY EYES: “I Realised My Career Was Probably Close To Over If I Didn’t Release Something” REVIEWS: MILITARIE GUN: Life Under The Gun // TROPHY EYES: Suicide and Sunshine // PVRIS: EVERGREEN

That becomes immediately apparent as the huge chugging riffs of Kings descend, Ishan Karunanayake apparently channeling Kim Thayil as Warren Harding exerts his range. 

The spirit of 90s industrial rock shines through with the following track, Squelch’s surging riffs and urgent vocal delivery giving off vibes of Stabbing Westward. The enormous Death in the Desert looms next, with Eastern scales and percussion opening into a thunderous and crushing staccato riff like Transmission-era The Tea Party on ‘roids, a dark and angry cascade of rumbling guitars and Harding’s vocal acrobatics.

Armed with a mountain of grimy riffs and using the lexicon of 90s alternative rock as a guide, Dirt City’s first EP may not be completely out of the box but is still nonetheless a strong and heavy introductory lesson.

An appropriately filth-ridden and acerbic cover of Billie Eilish’s You Should See Me in a Crown adds both cred and a further depth to their influences as they seek to step outside so many of the cliches embraced by modern heavy rock. That feeling is subverted a little by the grungey sludge factories Cocoon and Clickhole that lean a little into the generic side of things even if they are both well festooned with catchy riffs. Armed with a mountain of grimy riffs and using the lexicon of 90s alternative rock as a guide, Dirt City’s first EP may not be completely out of the box but is still nonetheless a strong and heavy introductory lesson.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Death in the Desert, Squelch, You Should See Me in A Crown
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Stabbing Westward, Alice in Chains, Gravity Kills