Trucker Diablo album sets benchmark few will reach

Social Hand Grenade detonates aurally with variety and passion

By Jonathan Traynor

Let’s face it, Trucker Diablo have nothing to prove in terms of their music, but their new album, (out now) Social Hand Grenade takes them on to a level many wish anc cannot attain. When an album is described as mature, it is sometimes the death knell for an act, but the Big Truck’s maturity here is in the confidence to deliver something that is rarely achieved. However, this album comes with a word of caution: it will first make you grin from ear-to-ear and in the next breath contemplate the world and the wonders of the sheer madness around you.

Opener ‘California on the Run’ will come as a surprise to a few, but a few bars in and you realise that they have captured the essence of a smile and distilled it into music. That’s not to say Trucker Diablo have gone soft or anything – heaven forfend – there are sufficient stadium killer anthems that will make others weep in frustration. And, speaking of a wee cry, heart-string tugging closer will have all those ‘experts’ on Saturday night talent shows ditch their boy bands and FX-singing divas a they will never emulate the wistfully contemplative ‘What I See’.

The opener and coda bracket a clutch of songs that weave the human condition, both individually and collectively. ‘Here Come The Vultures’ is the hand grenade delivered to the endless scrolling and the gathering of trolls behind screens. It is a fuck you to them all. Do You remember the ‘Summer of ‘69’, with Bryan Adams? Well, ditch the drive-in, smash the front porch and learn that ‘We Are Forever’.

Nodding to Mr Adams Tom id asking about the summer of ’89, and recalls that feeling we can remember in our formative years, that feeling we wish to recapture, and for our sanity we can. The performances by all, as always, are exemplary, the melodies infectious, and the arrangement of each song carefully honed for maximum effect. What is striking is that even with both the contemplative, and the rage Tucker Diablo have delivered a Social Hand Grenade that has more positivity than a fleet of fully charged Tesla’s.

Social Hand Grenade is out now

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