By Monk
There can be no doubt that Girlschool hold a special place in the annals of the history of heavy metal, especially in this here Über Kingdom of Rock ‘n’ Roll, being the first all-female band to break through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated NWoBHM scene – although arguably helped, in no small part, by having a champion in the shape of the mighty Lemmy in their corner – and prove that they possessed more balls on their chests than many of their lesser counterparts had between their legs…
Now, four and a half fucking decades later, having survived multiple tragedies and vagaries along the way, they prove that they’re neither living on their legacy nor planning to consign it to the broom closet of history with this, their appropriately titled 14th studio album and one that sounds as fresh and vibrant, if not more so, than anything they have produced since they first emerged onto the scene and had (then) teenagers such as myself creaming our too-tight jeans over the massive riffs they were producing (I’ll not even mention the promo photos cut from a certain Kerrap! magazine, shall I?)…
‘WTFortyFive’ delivers exactly what you expect from the “first ladies” of heavy metal – but believe me, as ever, there’s nothing ladylike here: this is a a collection of 12 deliciously dirty , headbang-inducing, irresistibly toe-tapping punky rock ‘n’ roll songs, delivered with shit tonnes of both confident aplomb and “fuck you asshole” attitude.
From the pure punk energy of ‘It Is What It Is’, with its heavyweight champion levelling riff, through the absolutely insane gothic horror disturbance of ‘Invisible Killer’ to the classic punk ‘n’ roll vibe of ‘It’s A Mess’ to the almost Jovi-esque vampiric joyousness of ‘Into The Night’ and the Texas blues infused infectiousness questioning of ;Are You Ready?, ’45…’ touches all the bases with that mixture of cheek and confidence that has characterized lessons at this particular school… is it too late to enrol for the new term?
‘WTFortyFive‘ is out now.
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