Sydney five piece heavy weights Bare Bones are certainly on a roll right now. With a couple of EP’s out so far the band are now not only celebrating their recent signing to iconic punk/hardcore label Resist Records but also the release of Bad Habits, their debut full length.

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Album opener Thick As Thieves is a huge, muscular beginning and sets the scene for much of what follows: a gut-churning mix of hardcore vocals courtesy of Tom Kennedy and heavy riff-a-thon guitars, this is Bare Bones at their visceral and aggressive best. With some sludgy breakdown sections propelled by some tight as hell drumming, it’s a killer opening track. Ravensburg delivers a more hard rock edge to proceedings and updates the punk ethos of bands like Black Flag, dragging it kicking and screaming into the modern age. Deathbed Visions is built on a foundation riff that Dimebag himself would have sold a kidney to have written and is unrelenting in it’s three and a half minutes of fury.

Throughout the whole album the production here is clear, razor sharp and absolutely massive. Displaying a more structured melodic direction than earlier works and yet balanced out by the same heaviness that have seen them become one of the more exciting bands to see live, there’s a more mature feeling to the album. Skeleton Key smacks of old school punk/hardcore nastiness whilst Strange Brew delivers a bone crushing mid-way track via some guest vocals from Jake from I Exist.

And there’s no sign of the pace letting up in the second half of Bad Habits either. The Forgotten Fear and Fury screams along a breakneck speed thanks to some insane percussion whilst Diamond Cutter offers up a rockier beat and a killer riff; heavy and grooving at the same time and easily a favourite upon repeat listens. Heavy Burner is exactly that, a heavy concoction that builds on a backbone of wailing guitars and screaming vocals that kick some serious ass and Dead Man Walking and Copper In The Cast deliver the one-two knock out blow to round things off in style.

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With a world class production and an arsenal of songs to rival any major countries’ heavy weapons cache, Bare Bones’ debut album is a serious piece of work that will leave your ears bleeding and twitching on the dirty pavement wondering what the hell hit them.

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