Drunktank – Return Of The Infamous Four CD (Various Labels)

Drunktank is pretty much well-known quartet in the worldwide skatepunk circles which has been formed in Den Haag, the Netherlands back in 2003. The band is famous for their energetic gigs and a fine blend of nineties skatepunk and eighties heavy metal music. So far, they managed to publish Ja Zegtie Sket Demo, Common Sense EP, Geef Boks EP, We’re In This Together EP and a magnificent debut called The Infamous Four. Nine years later, the band is back with another banger called Return Of The Infamous Four, such a logical continuation of their previous album. Drunktank has worked hard as a band for all these years, so unlike The Infamous Four, a brand new album is more polished, arrangements are even better than on a previous album, the band managed to implement all the bits and pieces of their ideas, so Return Of The Infamous can outshine its predecessor. Their brand new compositions are more skatepunk, more metal, but there are even some other genres involved on this ridiculously pleasant musical journey. The most interesting part about Return Of The Infamous Four are the dynamics, the rhythm section is killing it right from the start, drumming is so insane with a lot of impressive drum fills all the way through the whole album and basslines which are delivering a massive tones and gives a lot of support to the drummer. Guitars are beyond comprehension as well. These guys are obviously deeply into some metal music, but still, they’re punk rockers deep down in their hearts, so besides standard skatepunk riffs, you can expect a lot of impressive scales, octaves, fills, plus a lot of amazing guitar duels between both guitar players. The Netherlands is also famous for some quality hardcore punk music, so these fine musicians are not escaping from this genre either and there’s a strong presence of hardcore punk music, especially in some arrangements. Vocals are somewhere between melodic singing and shouting, the singer is obviously a pro in his job and the band paid attention to the singalongs as well. Lyrics-wise, Drunktank is pointing fingers at world events and various issues of modern society, but in a very sarcastic way and with a perfect dose of some quality humor. Impressive cover artworks are a tradition in Drunktank headquarters, so Return Of Infamous Four is coming with amazing illustrations by Benjamin Paulus who brought this incredible album onto another level. From one to ten, Return Of The Infamous Four is blowing up all the scales with radness and just check out the list of the labels involved if you’re still not convinced in the epicness of this album.