New Bomb Turks At Ropes End Review

From Married Punks 13, published in 1998.


New Bomb Turks At Ropes End

For those that liked Scared Straight, New Bomb Turks' first Epitaph release, this CD will be equally welcome.

New Bomb Turks is straightforward rock 'n' roll with a punk attitude.  When Eric sings, "I'm a singer, I don't care/Just want your creamy thighs" in "Raw Law," it's more Rolling Stones than it is Sex Pistols.  To quote my dad, "Nothing wrong with that."  And there's not.

New Bomb Turks is synonymous with high energy music.  The title song proves that.  The band, from Ohio of all places, knows that its roots lie as much with old rhythm and blues as they do with bands like The Ramones (if only for the ability to get people moving).  Not many other bands could make a harp, banjo and piano sound so slick.  New Bomb Turks does, though, and that's why the band is so damn killer.  It flows in all the right directions.

The band, like any good rock band (although not necessarily any good punk band) understands that rock music, with all its guitars and primordial ooze, is all just about sex.  It should leave you as breathless as a gigantic orgasm, and just as sweaty.  Unlike many rock bands, however, New Bomb Turks has a firm ground in the punk scene, so I doubt the sexual aspect of the music is discussed, or possibly even realized by the band.  Ask yourself this, though: What's a better band to screw to -- New Bomb Turks or Crass?