Gypsy Pistoleros have been a staple part of the UK underground rock and NWOCR scene for a good few years now. I’ve been a fan for a while, enjoying their last album a lot and having seen them a few times live. There’s a pretty large amount of hype surrounding this album’s release so when Lee so kindly sent it over, there was no way I wasn’t reviewing it! Let’s check this out together, shall we?
The opener/title track builds through a cool organ and spoken word part before exploding in with the punky hard rock the band are known for. The verse is awesome, and leads to an incredible chorus, it all being so catchy and fitting together perfectly. The production on it is great too, it sound massive and everything shining through on its own. I love the vocal/guitar jabs in the bridge after the second chorus, a quick section before a final, huge chorus and outro takes us home. It’s a fantastic way to open the album, channelling their Wildhearts influence on their sleeves while also adding in their flamenco-style roots. It’s a definite highlight, and a song that easily makes our playlist.
‘Shadow Walker’ again builds into a fantastic, pretty heavy punky riff. Lee’s vocals sound great over the top of it all, dripping with swagger and attitude. Another massive chorus soon comes in, not being quite as catchy as the previous but fitting the slightly more aggressive tone of the track. I LOVE the heavy bridge between the second on third choruses too, almost feeling like it boarders on a breakdown. It’s another simple-structured song but is so good, and is one I’m already desperate to hear live!
The album takes a slightly slower tempo shift with ‘Whatever Happened to the Old Town’. It’s a bit lighter but immediately gives off heavy Love/Hate vibes in the best ways. And it still builds to a massive, catchy rather epic chorus. The pace picks up a little in the second verse, the drums adding a lot and giving it almost more of a skate-punk feel to it, which I also loved! And that bridge riff with the solid drumming… *chefs kiss*. Plus, the bit after it is catchy as anything, especially thanks to all the backing vocals and harmonies. It’s glammy in such a good way, instantly giving me Pretty Boy Floyd vibes. The ‘oh’s would be amazing in a live setting. It’s another huge highlight of the album, and another easily playlisted song!
Single ‘Last Train to Nowhere’ picks back up the pace and energy in a big way. It’s also quite frankly punk as fuck. The pre and chorus are of course the major focuses of the track, and both are awesome enough to hold it down perfectly. And still, the verses are fun, setting everything else up very well! It’s a short, sweet simple track that is a lot of fun and well worth a listen!
After another release of their exceptional cover of ‘Livin La Vida Loca’, we get another almost punk-ballad in ‘I’m in Love with Myself’. It has that interesting mix of 90s punky hard rock, and the 70s stuff that inspired it. It’s yet another fun song as well with a fantastic song, and wouldn’t at all feel out of place on a Wildhearts release! The band are so good at the radio-track structure of songs, and this is another fantastic example of that. It’s another huge highlight, and should be a massive song for the band if the music industry is at all fair.
‘Last of the Commancheros’ is another slower song, being the closest to an actual ballad we have on the album. The music is stripped back and the piano in the choruses is a nice touch. However, we also get some awesome horn work in the bridge, the most they’ve lent on the flamenco side of their sound so far on the release. It’s a beautiful song and a great change of pace, setting the track apart from the rest of them perfectly.
The pace and rockiness picks back up a little with ‘Dancing Naked in the Rain’, that and ‘Hide Behind a Smile’ being still slower but based more around the rock instrumentation and distortion. Both are great songs, but it does feel like a few slower songs in a row. I missed the intensity of the faster, heavier tracks by the latter track, so maybe a different album arrangement may have helped me. However, it’s an incredibly minor gripe, and I’m probably in the minority!
The closing track on the album, ‘The Prayer’, is the high energy track I’ve wanted, for sure! The drums go hard through a lot of it and the riffing is awesome. Having said that, it is still a little slower in terms of pace. However, it gives the track almost an epic feel to it, and makes it a fantastic choice for a closing song. And it helps that it’s yet another awesome, huge chorus that deserves to be played to massive festival crowds. It’s another excellent song, and the perfect way to close out this album!
Overall: I loved this! I remember reviewing their last one and enjoying it, but it has nothing on this release. Every track is amazing and it really feels like they’ve taken a step up with this album. A lot of it has been stuck in my head for the last couple of days that I’ve spent writing this review, and I’m sure I’ll be spinning it for months to come yet. It is most certainly a big release in the scene, that’s for sure. If you’re a fan of rock music in any way, I cannot recommend checking this out enough!
The Score: 9/10