Mardo

The New Gun

(House of Restitution)

Record Review by Amber Henson

I knew I was going to have an interesting time writing the review of Mardo’s second album, The New Gun, when I heard the lyrics to “Killer on the Dance Floor.”  The specific line that was so intriguing was “Shake that shit like a son of a bitch.”  “Son of a bitch” usually refers to a man, logically, and I had read a quote from Mardo in their press release that said, “Don’t get me wrong—we hate to dance!  But there’s nothing wrong with getting the girls shaking.”  Clearly, someone was confused here.  Oh well.  I’m sure that “Killer on the Dance Floor” is often played so loud that the lyrics are fairly unintelligible.

Mardo sounds like a balance between Wolfmother and The Darkness.  They’re serious, but not that serious.  As soon as the singing starts on the opening track, “Lolita Live and Learn,” the listener quickly realizes that all the vocals on The New Gun are going to be screamed.  The ‘70s hard rock influence is there, and on some songs they translate it into sounding like an ‘80s hair metal band.  They offer an exciting combination of all the different decades of rock.

That means, of course, that there are occasional ballads.  Or, as they’re known in the concert world, beer time!  The ballads get a little corny from time to time; “Just Remember” has the chorus “Just remember, I love you for you.”  A secret track follows, where someone walks into a room and is asked “What do you have to say for yourself?” before a shot is fired.  What comes next is a much softer song than the rest of the album, with a repeated background vocal of “I’m cryin’.”

Overall, The New Gun is a hard rock lover’s dream, with almost every corner of the genre getting covered.  Full of cymbal intros, guitar solos and shout-along vocals, this album is here to rock.