One of the two applies. Either knowing The Damned for their debut “Damned Damned Damned”, one of the first, if not the first, British punk album, or for their 80s vampire gothic career. Except of course if you belong to the category that loved them and watched them live in 2008 in our country. I belong to the first category (you cannot have missed “Eloise” or you cannot have not heard “Neat neat neat”) and I have ignored anything they’ve been doing since the 90’s and on. I confess I am impressed with their new release.
In “Evil Spirits” we are dealing with a band much larger than the punk-rock label, which has experimented and wants to make its sound greater. Their evolution, catches you by surprise, with “Standing on the edge of tomorrow” coming from the depths of the 60’s as a wonderful psych-garage composition. The garage mood is confirmed with “Devil in Disguise,” while the energetic “We’re so Nice” leads us to the outrageous “Look left” that could be on a Robbie Williams album. Pompous, ascending, stadium rock. In “Evil Spirits” the best song of the album, everything is working perfectly. Fast, trumpets, great guitars, in 4 minutes, allows all members to give all they’ve got. The album is a multi-collector to the end (I do not know why, but Calexico came to mind with “Shadow Evocation”) and all the songs are memorable.
The Damned are aging beautifully and show the way of doing good rock music. Experience and passion.
