Did I feel like reviewing the new The Dirty Denims album Party On! because I had also reviewed the Eindhoven-based band’s 2021 live album Raw Denim for Zware Metalen, singer/guitarist Mirjam Sieben asked me via e-mail a few weeks ago. But of course, because I thought that live album was pretty ok at the time.
And so Mirjam provides me with the ten-song self-released album as MP3-files, plus neat press info, artwork and group photos. Definitely marketing will be no problem at all … but that’s exactly what Mirjam is specialised in.
One big change can be noted compared to the live album Raw Denim: bass player Marc Eijkhout has been replaced for a while now by Flemish Sebastiaan Verhoeven, who ensured an even fuller sound. Unfortunately, the well-known difficult combination of family – work – music career made it impossible for Sebastiaan to continue, so he left the band in June 2024. But you can hear him at work on this album.
Main question: does The Dirty Denims stay true to their party rock reputation again? Answer: they certainly do. The happy hard rockers are again doing plenty of what they love to do and what, moreover, they are good at it: grossing out riffs and musically referencing some older musical examples. Those examples are quite obvious: AC/DC of course, Kiss and even Ramones but also more feminine (pop) rockers like Joan Jett, Thundermother, Pat Benatar and certainly the defunct The Donnas. Top that up with a good pinch of feel-good vibes, tonnes of energy, infectious enthusiasm, musical familiarity and a big f-you attitue to all the gloom-and-doomers, and this will make you instantly happy. You could already tell by the first single Guestlist, released in September last year. An upbeat uptempo rocker with ripping guitars – both in terms of rhythm and solo guitar – and a cowbell during the sing-along chorus, which, by the way, is nicely tweaked lyrically in the course of the song.
The rest of the album offers you more of the same. I always have to get used to Mirjam’s slightly finer voice but she still manages to make it sound rougher, like in Too Loud Too Old, which was also released as a single. Moreover, she exudes such eternal enthusiasm and throws herself all over the place so that that one comment completely fades into insignificance.
Opening and title track Party On! is a real sample of their music. A song that, apart from the chorus, could fit perfectly into the AC/DC oeuvre during the Bon Scott era. Even though The Dirty Denims bring nothing new, they give me the impression that the compositions have more body than what I heard on Raw Denim. Yes, this song refers largely to an uptempo AC/DC but still they add all sorts of things to it so that it is not a simple rocker. The production sounds nice and greasy as it should with rock that gets its mustard from the 70s. Just listen to that pounding drum in the intro of Guestlist.
We Won’t Stop and Come On also turn the throttle all the way open, including popping guitar solos that add cachet not only to these songs but to the whole album. You also notice this in an in itself calmer song like Devil In Me, but the long solo takes you all the way back to AC/DC‘s Let There Be Rock LP.
The Dirty Denims close in a more poppy style with Why Do I Wake Up In The Middle Of The Night. Those who know a bit of their classics will surely make the link with Pat Benatar‘s Hit Me With Your Best Shot. While that was not hard rock, it was pure hit-sensitive pop rock from 1980. The same goes for this song. A slightly more mellow but worthy finale.
Party On! by The Dirty Denims has thus become a flawless party record; the title says it all. Solid old skool riffing on those guitars, creating tons of ambiance live, that’s what these songs are made for, with a personal preference for the faster and solid work. No textual drivel about all possible problems in the world, no profound philosophising, no social criticism, but just light-hearted lyrics wrapped in groovy riffs, catchy songs and packs of festive energy: that is the enduring recipe of this foursome. Highly recommended!
Score:
86/100
Label:
Eigen beheer, 2024
Tracklisting:
- Party On!
- Victory
- Guestlist
- We Won’t Stop
- Devil In Me
- Come On
- Hell Of A Night
- Too Loud, Too Old
- I Want It Now!
- Why Do I Wake Up In The Middle Of The Night?
Line-up:
- Mirjam Sieben – Vocals, guitar, organ
- Jeroen Teunis – Guitar, vocals
- Sebastiaan Verhoeven – Basx, vocals
- Suzanne Driessen – Drums, vocals
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