Atlanta three piece punks The Coathangers have just released their new album The Devil You Know. They describe it as a new beginning and say they ‘don’t care what our previous image was. That’s not us now’ and that that’s ‘the great thing about this record. It’s been honest and confrontational… but not in a shitty way. Fighting Boredom have been listening, read what we think below.
I didn’t get to the record shop this weekend, a combination of robots, seized knees and swimming, I didn’t get there. I’ve had this album as a promo for weeks and have managed to stop playing it intermittently; but never for very long. It was out on vinyl this weekend and my goal was to score a copy on whatever outrageous coloured vinyl I could, put it on the stereo and play it as loud as it would go, barricade myself in the house as furious neighbours tried to get in and turn it down. I reckoned I could hold them off for most of the weekend as long as the police didn’t turn up. But I didn’t get there. Maybe it’s because I didn’t finish the review sooner. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. But I want that slab of vinyl in my hands right now. To add insult to injury I got a picture message from a friend telling me she’d bought four albums by them including the new one. Jealous? Me?
But record shop failures aside. This album is ace. every time they make an album you can tell immediately it’s the Coathangers by the sound of it, it’s one of those sounds that you just know it’s them. Go on Bandcamp and listen to their cover of Sexbeat.. see. It’s obviously them. But that doesn’t mean that what they do goes stale. They change every time, I was going to say subtly but there’s little subtlety about The Coathangers. This one sounds cleaner, at least until the choruses where the vocals turn rough, sandpapered and nasty. They embrace pop then threaten it with brass knuckles. They take on the might of the NRA, just because it’s the right thing to do, and do so with punky spite and the knowledge that they will get shit for doing so. They dissolve into a drugged stupor on Lithium and explode into violent punk attitude on Hey Buddy.
The Coathangers still have their jagged bloody nosed edge but are coming out of the shadows and blinking into the light. It’s a great thing to watch and hear. Can’t wait for the tour.
You can buy the record from Just Dropped In Records at Fargo Village in Coventry for £19.49
UK Tour Dates
April 24 – Brighton, England @ The Latest Music Bar April 25 – London, England @ Studio 9294 April 27 – Leicester, England @ The Cookie April 28 – Glasgow, Scotland @ SWG Poetry Club April 29 – Manchester, England @ Soup Kitchen April 30 – Liverpool, England @ Arts Club (Loft) May 01 – Leeds, England @ The Key Club
