Album Review: The Coathangers – The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know is Atlanta garage punks The Coathangers’ sixth studio album. Not that you could guess; it sounds like a debut, full of determinedly idiosyncratic riffing and with a lo-fi overall feel and sound. But that’s fitting, as this is punk in its purest form and without the sickly gloss we have come to expect from the genre’s bigger hitters. Far from it. This record is aggressive and confrontational in parts and full of brutal barbs, but it also has also dreamy and sublime moments, particularly closing track Lithium which is an echoing, rambling ode to drugs and the standout opening track Bimbo.

With three strong writers and a democratic band-based writing methodology, it is inevitable that musical style will flow and shift across tracks. This is an achievement in itself and a testament to the band’s smarts. Deliberately or not, there are plenty of eclectic musical touchpoints. At their breeziest, The Coathangers could be a very angry Go-Gos or B-52s; in their stripped-back and jangling moments, they’re The Slits. Or they’re Nirvana. Or Wire.  One thing is clear though – they’re channelling a lot of rage and energy through these songs, a reflection perhaps on the times we’re living in: Fuck The NRA (also a single and video) is an incandescent attack on the National Rifle Association‘s relentless denial of the need for gun control, for instance.

Stylistically, The Devil You Know reflects the diversity of its writing processes and influences without sounding too much like anything you already know. Overall, this is a smorgasbord of styles and not what might reasonably be described as easy listening. Short and wickedly sharp slices of grungy, reverbed garage punk rock of real substance with an undercurrent of sleaze and despair lifted up by some gorgeously astral moments from a tight and very effective punk rock guerrilla unit.

The Coathangers are on tour in Great Britain and continental Europe through March and April. 

The Devil You Know can be streamed and purchased here