Punk/Metal
Napalm Records
Release Date – March 28th 2025
Links: http://facebook.com/vulvarine.vienna/
Line Up:
Suzy Q – Vocals
Sandy Dee – Guitar
Robin Redbreast – Bass
Bea Heartbeat – Drums
Tracklist:
The Drugs, The Love and The Pain
Ancient Soul
Heads Held High
Demons
Alright Tonight
Equal, Not The Same
Fool
Polly The Trucker
Dark Red
Cheri Cheri Lady
She’ll Come Around
My introduction to Vulvarine was a recent gig where they supported Thundermother. To say I was impressed is an understatement. They gave us six fantastic songs full of punk attitude and energy and metal precision along with some seriously catchy melodies. They aired three of the songs off this new record in their set, which sat comfortably with the three older songs.
They get straight into it on ‘The Drugs, The Love And The Pain‘ which shows what they’re all about. A fiery riff, bouncy rhythm, and catchy vocals, along with the ‘wooaah’ backing vocals creating the hook and a spicy solo from an unnamed lead guitarist. Currently providing the leads is Coralie Baier from Atlantean Kodex but she assures me that she didn’t play on the record. ‘Ancient Soul‘ builds over a fine guitar line before Bea Heartbeat knocks out a tempo change and they’re off on a pop/punk rattler. It’s more of the same on ‘Heads Held High‘ where singer Suzy Q gives a breathless performance – sultry one minute then belting it out the next.
‘Demons‘ has a superb guitar intro which settles down into some more pop/punk before Robin Redbreast gives us a solid bass groove to open the superb ‘Alright Tonight,’ which has a cinematic story. Then current single ‘Equal, Not The Same‘ brings another piece of radio friendly pop/rock. ‘Fool‘ shows again just how good these ladies are at writing songs. Deceptively simple and sounding a bit like Hole with that grooving bass line, then we get another cinematic episode on ‘Polly The Trucker‘. ‘Dark Red‘ is darker and harder, then we get some Runaways’ pop/punk with ‘Cheri, Cheri Lady‘ which features the six string talents of Thundermother’s Filippa Nassil. The final cut is a total departure – a fire side acoustic jam ‘She’ll Come Around‘ which again has shades of Courtney Love.
I had to listen to this on a stream from Napalm Records. Unfortunately, you only get limited plays, and I used them all up. If you like anthemic, catchy energetic, pop punk, then pick this up. I’ve played it to death, and I will continue to do so for a while yet.
Written by: Smudge
Ratings: 9/10
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