The Saurs - Magic Shape

Barcelona’s Saurs turn the amps up to 11, break out the Superfuzz Bigmuff distortion pedals and proceed to pummel your heads into submission with high energy garage punk. Eleven tracks whizz by in just over half an hour, Ramones-style, although The Saurs break off some nifty solos throughout the ensuing mayhem. Think more Dead Boys or Left Coast punk just-this-short of hardcore.

           Granted, the songs sound pretty much interchangeable, but these young guys have their chops down pat – no three-chords-and-a-prayer wankoffs here (although ‘Thursday’ does stop midway for a strangulated solo that seems superfluous in context). Admittedly, I’m not up to date on today’s punk scene (there is one?), but I can say that fans of Sweden’s Caesars and Hives will find comfort in roughhousers like ‘Ain’t No Deal’, ‘Knife’, and ‘Close-Up’. I also hear some of the skater punks my daughter listens to like Good Charlotte and New Found Glory running about with reckless abandon. If you are dragged to those Warped Tour thingies to chaperone your young ‘uns, you also might recognize kindred spirits lurking within The Magic Shape.

           I also appreciate that The Saurs don’t subscribe to the loud fast rules anathema – they actually take the time to write some pretty cool tunes and, although their attempt at a “ballad” (‘Melting Castle’) falls flat, I give them props for at least attempting to alter the tempo.

           All in all, they’re obviously having fun making all this racket and if you still have some of your old 70s and ‘80s punk records hanging about, this might just make you want to dig them out (and that’s a compliment!)