Warn The Duke – Ghost Be Gone

Warn the Duke, the brainchild of former River City Rebel Dan McCool, which also features Derek Davis from Big D and the Kids Table on drums may not attempt to break any new musical thresholds with their debut LP Ghost Be Gone, but with a line-up rounded out with Sara Press on bass and sharing vocal duties and George Miata on guitar, their intensely catchy blend of 90’s emo and jangly melodic alt rock has a freshness that sets them apart from their peers today.

Album opener Coastline combines early Hot Water Music and harmonies reminiscent the Beach Boys in one 3 minute spell and it just works, the heavy riffs are offset by the soft melodies and it sets a pretty high bar for the rest of the record to live up to. Kids and Queens is a driving garage rock anthem whose chorus shouts: ‘might as well just leave it alone yeah’ almost dares you to hit that skip button. Cordelia starts with a slow, deliberate distortion heavy riff which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Dinosaur Jr or Superchunk album. Also worth mentioning that the female led vocal add a welcome new twist. Noreaster seems like it is going to lighten up the tone with its fuzzy jangly lead riff, before it rips into gear and wow, does it fucking deliver; the guitars have a dark tone, desperately reaching vocals spliced with earworm worthy pop sensibilities.

The Way We Live Now features an opening riff lifted straight from the Men Without Hats anthem Pop Goes The World, but a guitar slide later and we’re in noise-punk heaven. The melody takes on early post punk, but with a killer edge. The bridge following the first chorus is seriously impressive, were in hair on the neck standing up territory! Also have to mention the now standard instrument drop out in the middle, but this is one of the best uses of it I’ve heard in some time

Star goes a bit overkill on the long into, but if you persevere the rewards are worth it as this is the album’s highlight by a mile. Equal parts Cheap trick, The Wildhearts with a Clash-esque punk rock twist makes it one of the best things I’ve heard in a long time. Really can’t get enough of this, even better than Hot Water Music or The Tim Version at their best; there’s a real story being told and you really don’t want it to end. Really fucking impressive. If the whole album was this good this band would be a household name.

Chicago Lights, Reclamation and 2050 all have cool elements, a nice melody here, a cool riff there, but sound decidedly average compared the record’s high points. Lead single Harry O’Donnell closed out the record in some style with a great little opening riff reminiscent of mid 90’s shoegaze bands like Mystery Machine and a killer chorus which alone makes it worthy of its elevated status.

The band may cover well tread ground with their working class take on universal themes like love, loss and struggle, but the music stands up to great scrutiny and has a timeless feel to it, in the same way bands like The Replacements or The Supersuckers did (and still do). A really impressive debut, and I look forward to seeing what this band come up with next. But only after I give Star one more spin.

The album is out on 16.10.2015. Pre-Orders / Streams of Ghost Be Gone are available through Warn The Duke’s Bandcamp page.