D.O.A. - Hard Rain Falling - 2015 Vancouver Canada Hardcore Punk LP

D.O.A. - Hard Rain Falling


Label: Sudden Death Records
Cat#: SDR0110
Format: LP, Album,
Country: Canada
Released: 26 Jun 2015
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk, Hardcore


Tracklist


1 You've Gone To Far
2 Punk Rock Hero
3 The Cops Shot A Kid
4 Warmonger
5 Johnny Too Bad
6 Pipeline Fever


7 Racism Sucks
8 Kicked In The Teeth
9 Not Gonna Take Your Crap No More
10 He Joined The Gang
11 Ni Hao
12 San Quentin



DOA is back with a vengeance! It looked like Canada’s legendary punk pioneers were going to hang it up, as Joe “Shithead” Keithley, the godfather of hardcore, sought political office in Canada, but that didn’t happen this time. So look at it this way, the political world’s loss is the music world’s gain, because DOA has a brand new full-length, Hard Rain Falling, which Sudden Death Records is very pleased to release. It’s DOA’s sixteenth studio album. When Keithley set out to write the songs for the album, he used DOA’s early efforts like Hardcore 81, Something Better Change and War on 45 as a bit of template, in the sense that the songs should be short, fast and right to the point.


The end result is great, likely their best album since War on 45. Keithley’s lyrics take on a wide range of modern and horrible screwups, from racism to street gangs to war to environmental degradation. With all of that in mind, Shithead and his infamous henchmen Paddy Duddy (drums) and Mike Maggot (bass) went into the studio with fire in their bellies and with the goal of making a kick-ass album. It worked—Hard Rain Falling is a great effort from one of the world’s most influential and inspirational bands.


2015 release, the 16th studio album from Canada's legendary punk pioneers. DOA is back with a vengeance! It looked like Canada's legendary punk pioneers were going to hang it up, as Joe "Shithead" Keithley, the godfather of hardcore, sought political office in Canada, but that didn't happen this time. When Keithley set out to write the songs for the album, he used DOA's early efforts like Hardcore 81, Something Better Change and War on 45 as a bit of template, in the sense that the songs should be short, fast and right to the point.

The end result is great, likely their best album since War on 45. Keithley's lyrics take on a wide range of modern and horrible screwups, from racism to street gangs to war to environmental degradation. With all of that in mind, Shithead and his infamous henchmen Paddy Duddy (drums) and Mike Maggot (bass) went into the studio with fire in their bellies and with the goal of making a kick-ass album. It worked-Hard Rain Falling is a great effort from one of the world's most influential and inspirational bands.

The first thing we hear on Hard Rain Falling is that familiar voice shouting “You’ve gone, gone, gone, gone, gone too far!” The opening track is one minute and 15 seconds of vintage D.O.A. It’s a Chuck Berry-style riff with that familiar overdriven but not totally distorted guitar sound. The shouted, repetitious chorus drives the point home. Like a lot of modern punk recordings, the lead vocals are probably a little too loud in the mix. (Clear your throat, Joe.) I suppose it’s better than the buried lead vocals of many early '80s punk and hardcore recordings, but the balance could be better. On “Punk Rock Hero,” Keithley gives some fatherly advice to the next generation of aspiring anarchists. “The Cops Shot a Kid” is exactly what you’d expect for these troubled times. “Warmonger” references Vietnam, but it’s as relevant today as ever. “Johnny Too Bad” is D.O.A.’s take on reggae, complete with organ. It also adds to the punk lexicon of “Johnny” songs. “Pipeline Fever” decries the environmental damage done by big corporations.

“Racism Sucks” has an obvious message but is extremely catchy. “Kicked in the Teeth” adds some tasty bagpipe and Celtic flair to the mix. “Not Gonna Take Your Crap No More” and “He Joined the Gang” are classic sounding D.O.A. songs. Things wrap up with a cover of “San Quentin” from Johnny Cash’s legendary 1969 live album At San Quentin. The Man in Black and Joe Shithead might seem like odd bedfellows, but the two men might have more in common than you think. At the very least, they were both concerned about the plight of the prisoner. Hard Rain Falling is exactly what you’d hope it would be. It’s 12 songs in 29 minutes without an ounce of filler.

D.O.A. - Pipeline Fever

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D.O.A - Johnny Too Bad

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