Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons

‘Kings Of The Asylum’

Heavy Rock ‘n’ Roll

Nuclear Blast

Review by Smudge

Where the fuck do I start with this? First, it’s an absolute rabid banging chunk of heavy rock n roll full of riffs, grooves and catchy melodies. Second, it sounds absolutely huge and third you gotta hear this record just for the energy it gives out. We all know about Phil Campbell’s rock n roll credentials all that DNA has obviously fed into his three sons and by proxy, their singer Joel Peters, whose performance on this is nothing short of awesome.

Kicking off with an absolute banger – ‘Walking In Circles’ sets the stall out early so you know what to expect, it’s nasty, dirty, rude, crude, excessively loud rock n roll. ‘Too Much Is Not Enough’ steps on the gas with the true spirit of Motorhead and you’ll be singing the ‘tick, tick, tick, tock’ refrain all day! The new single ‘Hammer And Dance’ just takes off so hold on to your hats then we come down on a slice of sleazy boogie with ‘Strike The Match’ before the nasty riffage of ‘Schizophrenia’ takes over with another excellent vocal melody.

The title track gives us some respite on a big bluesy groove before ‘The Hunt’ kicks things up again with some proper heavy rock n roll then the greasy boogie of ‘Show No Mercy’. ‘No Guts! No Glory!’ is full-on punk/metal that will have you pogoing/headbanging at once and people say men can’t multi-task! Things ease back on the spooky ‘Ghosts’ before the mighty rude, crude and sure-to-be-alive favourite ‘Maniac’ – this is rock n roll and says everything you’ve ever wanted to say to anyone who has pissed you off! Finally, we get a bonus cut ‘Monster’ which is another quality banger and a fitting end.

Phil Campbell and his sons have produced a masterpiece of true rock n roll. It’s loud, it’s brash and uncompromising. Campbell has lost none of his fire when it comes to riffs and leads and his sons Tyla, Todd and Dane provide the tightest, grooviest backing. Todd’s production skills are also impressive with huge sounds that are crystal clear. Buy this – nuff said!