VARIETY JONES – Shell Shocked

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://variety-jones.bandcamp.com/album/shell-shocked

What a lovely, rabble-rousing debut offering this is! Variety Jones hail from Bergen but sound like they crawled out of the gutter in Los Angeles roughly thirty-eight years ago, which is obviously meant as a compliment.

With an emphasis on raw and concise riffs that will make you raise your fist, gritty vocals with charisma to them, and a robust and ass-kicking rhythm section, it is fair to say that the disc instantly appealed to me as it conjured up a proper rock ‘n’ roll atmosphere and ticked a lot of the right boxes. The affair sounds very immediate and direct somehow, almost as if the quartet is standing right in front of you and playing their balls off, which is to say that the record possesses a “live” feel that very much works in its favor. References could be made to heaps of 80s acts or rather the raunchy rock records that came out back then as certain ideas and elements recall KISS (without the make-up, that is), Mötley Crüe at their fiercest, and Skid Row at their catchiest without this sickeningly endearing Norwegian entity necessarily coming across as derivative or a cheap clone of any of the aforementioned titans. Tracks such as “Run,” “Femme Fatale,” the title song, and the slow-burning delight that is “Dead Man’s Hand” show heaps of promise and bode very well for the future.

This is as unpolished and energetic as they come, and although not every single track is a winner, this is an impressive debut and a well-written piece of work. Check these bad boys out and make sure you give them a proper listen.