The last time Australian fans heard from their favourite LA punk band, it was in their guise as Mariachi El Bronx at the beginning of the year for Big Day Out 2012.
Now fans of the band’s straight-up punk stylings as The Bronx will be delighted to learn that they’ll be returning to their hardcore roots with their fist album in five years, just in time for them to celebrate their 10th Anniversary.
Returning as The Bronx, the new album, The Bronx (IV), comes in at just under 40 minutes in length with 12 tracks and the band have today released the first taste with “Ribcage”.
Kicking off straight away with pulse-quickening percussion, the addictive electric guitar riffs and bass line (which sounds as if it drops out, although this could be the quality of speakers and/or the online streaming) sprint hard and fast to keep up.
It’s a punchy, 3 minute track which takes a more melodic turn than expected, with vocalist Matt Caughthran singing in a different pitch than what we’ve come to hear from the punk band in their past work.
Though they began as a traditional hardcore 5-piece in 2002, five years later, the group announced they would be releasing one more eponymous series of album before completely re-inventing themselves with an album of original mariachi music as the perfunctorily titled Mariachi El Bronx.
They then went on to release another self-titled album as Mariachi El Bronx last year, but their latest self-titled album as The Bronx (confused yet?) marks their fourth under their punk moniker, and their first in half-a-decade.
Produced by Beau Burchell, who has worked on albums from the likes of Underoath, Reel Big Fish, as well as producing The Bronx’s 2003 debut; The Bronx (IV) will be released through White Drugs/Shock in Australia and New Zealand on February 8, 2013.
The new album is available for pre-order from: www.punkshop.com.au/bronx/, while “Ribcage” is also available as a limited edition vinyl featuring the heavier, previously unreleased B-Side, “Into The Black”.
It may feel like a long time coming for fans of The Bronx’s usual rock material but as “Ribcage” is the only track to go by for the time being, listeners will surely have their thirst satiated with this on repeat until the album release early next year.
You can listen to the lead single “Ribcage” from the band’s forthcoming album, and scope the artwork and tracklisting, below:
The Bronx (IV) track listing:
1. The Unholy Hand
2. Along For The Ride
3. Style Over Everything
4. Youth Wasted
5. Too Many Devils
6. Pilot Light
7. Torches
8. Under The Rabbit
9. Ribcage
10. Valley Heat
11. Life Less Ordinary
12. Last Revelation
