Album Review: The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Check em Before You Wreck ‘em

The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Check em Before You Wreck ‘em
Release Date: April 15, 2014

First off, that name. Right? What a fucking band name. When I first heard of these guys with their 2012 debut Fear It Don’t Hear It I couldn’t wait to give them a listen. While I really dug the songs something about that album just didn’t click with me. I was never quite sure what it was but I felt a bit let down. Well, after giving the band’s latest album Check em Before You Wreck ‘em it became very obvious what it was. It’s all in the production and the mix baby. Check em Before You Wreck ‘em captures and encapsulates everything that this band is about and I loved every fucking minute, every riff, every gnarly verse and chorus of it.

The album opens up with a kick to the face with “Do It Now” but the Admiral totally lays down the stank groove with “2 Tonne Fuckboot” and as this point I was grooving, nodding my head, and casting a shit eating grin that couldn’t be kicked off my face. The 8 minute epic “Captain Merryweather” is such an amazing song and in this I can hear elements of The Who, Black Sabbath, Cream, Deep Purple and even some Captain Beyond. This is really no surprise being that The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell hails from the same side of the map as the other British legends. The apple definitely doesn’t fall far from the tree with these guys but again, they’ve taken a little bit of all those great bands and managed to create one amazing goulash that is The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.

Another thing I love about this album is that it never gets fucking boring. You really never know what to expect song after song. One minute you’ll be getting an 8 minute psychedelic hard rock epic like “Captain Marryweather” and then all of the sudden you’ll get a gnarly Motorhead inspired jam like “Happiness Begins.” Aside from “Captain Merryweather”, the highlight of the album comes in the form of the smokey, whiskey drawled groove of “Bulletproof.” This is a great song and it’s the kind of song that I could totally see as a gateway to truly discovering and getting into this fantastic band.

The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell really nailed it with this album. With Check em Before You Wreck ‘em I really hear everything that this band is about. It is a very raw, very real representation of these guys. In some way, after hearing this album I felt like I had experienced their live performance minus the sweat, the stink, and the puke on the floor. Check em Before You Wreck ‘em reminds me of something you would hear coming out of a dark, dingy, dark back room of some rock pub in East Sussex. It just sounds like great, fun, dirty rock n’ roll. Check em Before You Wreck ‘em is a great album and if you’re a fan of gritty, no frills, jamtastic, riffalicious hard rock music, you’ll definitely want to put this in your pipe, smoke it, and share it with your friends.

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