Bad Monkeys – Case Conflict (2016)

The debut album from Finland’s Bad ManKeys is a straight ahead rock and roll album in the tradition of Gun N’ Roses et al and it’s a catchy one at that. Very catchy at times. ‘Down Go The Lights’ in particular will stick in your head for days, and the funky rhythms of the title track and ‘Mankey Love’ are full of swagger that you can’t help but love. They even get a little bit emotional on the undeniably lovely (if grammatically off) closer ‘Kiss Me Deadly’. But I’m not sure how much of what they are doing I should be offended by.

Are they, like Steel Panther for example, being deliberately misogynistic for comedy effect? Or are they, like Buckcherry, just dicks? Lyrically they seem to be stuck in the ‘80’s, as if they’ve picked up a Warrant record and thought it was lyrically representative of the world today. It gets worse if you investigate them a little. They sell Bad ManKeys thongs for God’s sake! And in the Facebook post promoting the thongs they end it with #tasty #whatsthatsmell. I mean come on lads. Add to that their teaser video for this album involves a pole dancer with money stuffed in her daisy dukes seemingly unironically and the words ‘Don’t be an ass look at this ass’ in the post. Now, I might just be getting offended for no reason, but to be honest I just can’t be doing with them, so on this occasion I’m sawing towards the Buckcherry option because they just aren’t as overtly idiotic as Steel Panther but I’m hoping it’s the third option which is summarised in this last sentence: ‘Case Conflict’ is full of fine catchy tunes sung by a naive young band who’s heads are in fact stuck firmly in the past, and not just the music-was-great-back- then past, the Oh-Jesus-what-the-hell-is-he-saying-now? past.

01. Down Go the Lights
02. Case Conflict
03. Hold the Line
04. Stunt Coordinator
05. Old Love
06. Hey Baby Im Gonna Leave You
07. Mankey Love
08. She`s Got the Devil
09. Rules of the Blues
10. Kiss Me Deadly

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