The Dirty Nil – Free Rein To Passions
Release Date: 26th May 2023
Label: Dine Alone
Bandcamp
Genre: Alternative, Grunge, Indie, Rock, Punk.
FFO: Dinosaur Pile Up, Turnstile, Billy Talent.
Review By: Ross Bowie
The Dirty Nil are back with their follow up to 2021’s Fuck Art, which was jam packed with absolute lockdown anthems. The band continue to sound like they’re having the most fun, and all the over-the-top guitar solos and self-aware lyrics are back for the ride.
The Dirty Nil’s love for big guitar riffs will never fail to get me excited, the opening track Celebration is a riff so obnoxious that you can’t help but grin from ear to ear. Frontman and guitarist Luke Bentham brings a joyous quality to the band and keeps the energy and pace going for the majority of the album’s 31-minute run time. His lyricism has always been the thing I adore, not because he sings in complex metaphors or pulls on your heart strings, but they’re just so straight to the point. “This whole working for you ain’t working for me” line in Stupid Jobs is a prime example. The band are so tongue in cheek that the tongue is bursting through the cheek and onto the floor.
In the past when the band has slowed things down for a more sombre moment it has always landed, but the closing track The light, The Void and Everything see’s their first miss-step. It’s not that the song is particularly bad, it just seems like it was tacked on at the end of the album for no real reason. It doesn’t serve the album in the way all the other tracks do. The band has slowed down in the past for those big sing-along moments but this one fall’s rather flat.
While Free Rein To Passions flies by and does have some great songs, it’s lacking that real stand out moment that the previous albums have delivered in spades. Fuck Art had Doom Boy and 2018’s Master Volume had That’s What Heaven Feels Like but, this album, while having good songs across it, doesn’t have that mountain peak moment. Nicer Guy is probably the closest you get to that euphoric feeling, but when comparing it to the standard the band have set themselves, it falls slightly short.
The Dirty Nil have always been and continue to be a fun band, even if they haven’t reached the heights over their previous work, this album is still a good time and has moments that will send live audiences into a frenzy. The band are at their best when they’re busting out the riffs and having the best time doing it, and at points Free Rein To Passions delivers exactly that.
(4 / 5)
