Ashington, Northumberland's melodic punk'n'roll quartet LoGOz celebrate their tenth anniversary with a new album 'Welcome To The Freakshow', ten tracks (plus an opening and concluding instrumental) of solid pop-punk tuneage. Citing influences such as The Wildhearts, Rancid, Ramones and Green Day, LoGOz has all these bands' DNA in their sound along with a touch of grunge, 2nd wave UK punk and classic punk and with main-man Peesh's taut, concise song-writing they will not disappoint if punky rock'n'roll and pop-punk is your thing. Ably backed by Paul (lead guitar / backing vocals), Carlos (drums) and Peesh's son Kieran (bass), and with support slots to the likes of The Wildhearts, Sham 69, Eureka Machines and The Rezillos under their belt, 'Welcome To The Freakshow' is a perfect encapsulation of LoGOz's 10 years' experience out there in the punk-rock fields.
Mostly eschewing layered, textured music, 'Welcome To The Freakshow' does bring great tuneage with choruses that stick in your brain, tight musicianship that serves Peesh's songs to their best effect, a rollicking sound that is driving and vibrant, and a unified band playing at the top of the game. Everything, in fact, that you want from a fine pop-punk album. Thick, barrelling riffs are everywhere - in the fantastic 'Scars And Bruises', the raw 'Distorted' and the slightly more metal of 'U.S.E', but the aggression is leavened with the many poppy choruses sweetened with well-placed backing vocals across many of the album's tracks. The rousing couplet of 'Freakshow' and 'Frankenstein' sets the stall out for the album perfectly and, if you're a punk fan from way back in the 70s try the 'almost but not quite Babylon's Burning' riffing of 'Tropical Apocalypse' whilst the spirit of The Clash is never far away. By the time you reach the short instrumental 'La Salide Esperanza' that closes the album, you've had ten tracks of very enjoyable punk 'n' roll.
No surprises then on 'Welcome To The Freakshow', but it doesn't take away from the fact that this is a great album well worth spending time with. Fans of punk, grunge and rabble-rousing rock' 'n' roll will find much to relish in these well-crafted songs and no doubt they will all translate well to the live stage. 'Welcome To The Freakshow' is the album, that after ten years, LoGOz were destined to make - roll on the next ten years.
'Welcome To The Freakshow' is available digitally on all the major sites with CD versions available from the LoGOz Bandcamp page - www.logozuk.bandcamp.com