By Jim Rowland
Formed from the ashes of 1980s ÜK hardcore stalwarts HDQ, Diaz Brothers may not be a full-time band, but when they do get together they mean business, as is clearly evident on new album ‘The World Is Yours’, the follow up to their acclaimed 2020 self-titled debut.
Consisting of ten tracks going just over the 30-minute mark in total, ‘The World Is Yours’ is a concise, powerful and explosive album blending punk and rock together with well written songs and a strong melodic sensibility.
‘Be My Drug’, ‘As I Tear’, ‘By My Side’ and the rousing ‘The Great British Fake Toff’ are full throttle slices of powerful and catchy melodic punk rock, with the fast ’n’ furious ‘Hourglass Full of Quicksand’ and ‘Ego’ following similar lines.
‘Anxiety Landslide’ and the Who-flavoured ‘Who Am I’ are huge, soaring and explosive, the very neat ‘Departure Lounge’ has a hint of the Ruts to it, whilst the album closer ‘Blink’ in particular has many of the qualities of Bob Mould/Husker Dü for me, qualities that pop up throughout the album.
Hardened and gnarly, packing a very powerful punch, but oozing melody, ‘The World Is Yours’ is a very impressive slice of melodic punk without ever lurching into pop-punk territory.
- ‘The World Is Yours’ is released today (Friday 6 June).