Sorry and the Sinatras - Highball Roller

Predictably enough, given that this record features a current member of The Wildhearts and songs titled Junkie and No Angels, Scott Sorry and his Sinatras offer no exercise in lo-fi electronica. Highball Roller instead documents the equivalent of a piss-and-vinegar collision between The Almighty and a ska-less Rancid. As gruff, boozy, exuberant and rich in testosterone as they are, the Philadelphia-based quartet rarely do anything even approaching fresh. The only notable exception is second track Burns City Burns, which out-frenzies even The Bronx thanks to some rampaging instrumentation and a furious pace. Most of the other tracks are of a slower tempo and bear the predictable (if unpretentious) swagger previously peddled by The Backyard Babies and thousands of less successful hard-rocking, hard-cocking sons of bitches. It's an old idea, capably done, and certain to sit comfortably in the upper half of a pile of countless sound-a-likes.