Drenge - Drenge

Derbyshire is one of England's most picturesque counties, featuring many many National Trust houses. It is, of course one of the nation's renowned beauty spots. In fact, my grandma went to Derbyshire for her birthday for a tour of such places. As well as the surrounding architecture, Derbyshire is home to one of Britain's most fantastic two piece rock bands, Drenge. Drenge, even the name sounds as far removed from the pretension of huge manor houses than humanly imaginable, and that's what Drenge are. Drenge are a real honest, simple, yet all the more brilliant rock band.
The Derbyshire rock duo bear resemblance to other popular two pieces, like Vancouver's Japandroids. Like Japandroids, Drenge use heavy, distorted guitar tones to add to the sound of the solitary guitar, making them sound like there's more than just the two brothers. Drenge are one of the British indie scene's biggest hopes, and a band renowned for hectic, energetic live shows, and from experience I can assure you that Drenge are one of the best live acts in the business.
 But does their album compare to their live shows? It does! Drenge's self titled, fast-paced, hard-rocking debut album has everything. You can tell from the first five seconds of lead single "Bloodsports" that the Loveless Lads are no slackers in the studio, as the simple riff is enough to get anyone off their feet. Bloodsports is the perfect single, with it's simply singable lyrics and it's swaying riff, even it's middle-8 is a thing of brilliance.
But Bloodsports isn't the only highlight, far from it. The anthemic opener, "People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck" ensures that the LP hits the ground running. Although the title is a bit old Fall Out Boy, but it's so much better than that. It could definitely be titled better, but at least you know what to expect from the chorus, right? Right.
Another notable highlight is Fuckabout, the pace changing closer. Fuckabout is arguably the standout track, especially lyrically. Lyrics like "I put the kettle on/You put heavy metal on" are simple yet so typical to Eoin's style. Loveless has clever rhymes left right and centre throughout Fuckabout, like "Sleep in the corridor/What are you living for?". The song is also arguably the only song on the album that shows any sort of emotion, or more to the point, this song is the only song that lacks the lack of emotions.
The rest of the album, however, is bursting with the songs Eoin Loveless describes as "psychotic". New single Face Like A Skull, and Gun Crazy is where this is most apparent, as well as the penultimate last track, "Let's Pretend", all three of these songs being highlights of Drenge's excellently brutal debut album.
With this record the aptly named Loveless brothers have produced one of the year's standout debut albums. Many of this year's most critically acclaimed first albums (180, Where The Heaven Are We?, Sistrionix) can't even hold a candle to "Drenge". In fact, it even gives Peace's stunning "In Love" a run for it's money, but that's because this duo from lovely Derbyshire give everything a run for it's money.

Rating: 9.5/10
Out: Now (2nd November)
Key Tracks: "Fuckabout", "Bloodsports", "Gun Crazy"