There's nothing complicated about the music of The Men. They've been doing this for years and have sort of refined (as much as one can use that word for tunes like these) their attack. New York City, their latest, dropped yesterday, and it's fairly engaging for those looking for quick, dirty kicks.
"Hard Livin'" roars out of the gate all Iggy-Kill City, while "God Bless the USA" and "Peace of Mind" similarly keep things in the red. There's shades of Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet here to these ears, though I'm relatively new to this band, and I guess the urban squalor of the group's sound probably owes a debt or a thousand to No New York pioneers. But, really, this isn't revolutionary material, and while there's modulation in some tracks here, like "Eternal Recurrence", maybe not enough. What I mean to say is that while this delivers the filthy goods, maybe I'll just go listen to my Stooges and Voidoids records instead, you know what I mean?
New York City is out now via Fuzz Club.
[Photo: The Men Bandcamp page, uncredited]