DIRTY PAGANS-Forever High album review. Adelaide's riff merchants are back to melt your fucking face off. By Mark Jenkins.
DIRTY PAGANS
Forever High
★★★★☆
DIRTY PAGANS-Forever High album review. Adelaide's riff merchants are back to melt your fucking face off. By Mark Jenkins.
There's something beautifully unhinged about Dirty Pagans that makes you want to crack open a beer at 10 AM and tell your boss exactly what you think of their "synergy initiatives." Their sophomore slab Forever High is 40 minutes of pure, unadulterated riff worship—the kind of record that makes you remember why rock and roll was invented in the first place.
MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE
From the moment "Forever High" kicks in with its psychedelic snarl, you know these Adelaide hellraisers aren't fucking around. The riff hits like a brick through a church window—fuzzy, filthy, and absolutely righteous. Matty Dee's vocals swagger over the chaos with the confidence of a man who's never met a microphone he couldn't seduce, while the rhythm section pounds away like they're trying to wake the dead.
The addition of drummer Gareth Briggs has injected rocket fuel into an already combustible mix. Where their previous efforts occasionally meandered, Forever High stays locked in the pocket, each song a precision-guided missile aimed directly at your pleasure centres. This is the sound of a band that's been road-tested to perfection—recently cutting their teeth supporting Deep Purple legend Glenn Hughes across Australia, and it fucking shows.
TALES FROM THE GUTTER
Killer in the Night showcases the band's storytelling chops, weaving a twisted tale over riffs that channel prime-era Maiden through a bong made of Marshall stacks. It's horror movie rock that would make Alice Cooper proud, all theatrical menace and tongue-in-cheek theatrics. But beneath the swagger, there's genuine songcraft—these aren't just riff merchants, they're song architects. Tracks like I am The One and Big City Dead in the Eyes very clearly showcase the epic skill level on display across the release.
The whole record pulses with '70s DNA—think Sabbath's heaviness filtered through the psychedelic lens of Blue Cheer, with just enough modern production sheen to keep things from sounding like a nostalgia trip. Every track feels purpose-built for the live setting, choruses designed to be bellowed back by crowds three beers past good judgment.
NO APOLOGIES, NO PRISONERS
What makes Dirty Pagans special isn't just their ability to conjure killer riffs—though they do that in spades. It's their refusal to take the whole thing too seriously. There's a wink in the eye, a swagger in the step that says "we know this is ridiculous, and that's exactly the point." In an era of overthinking and under-feeling, Forever High is a refreshing blast of pure, stupid fun.
Sure, they're not reinventing the wheel—but when the wheel sounds this good, why would you want to? This is comfort food for the ears, the musical equivalent of your favourite dive bar: familiar, reliable, and guaranteed to leave you feeling better than when you walked in.
Forever High doesn't just capture the spirit of '70s rock—it grabs it by the throat and drags it kicking and screaming into 2025. Dirty Pagans have delivered exactly what we need right now: an album that's loud, proud, and completely unashamed of what it is.
ESSENTIAL TRACKS: Forever High, Killer in the Night, and You Will Know My Name.
FOR FANS OF: Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Iron Maiden, Fu Manchu
PERFECT FOR: Late night drives, questionable decisions, reminding yourself that rock isn't dead
Forever High is out now. Your summer soundtrack just came in early. Why wait, party now!.
Comments
Post a Comment
Feel free to comment, but anything racist or sexist goes in the bin, as you should also.