Their sound may not burst much out of the genre box but LAZYgunsBRISKY fires shots of charming wit and musicianship into the straight-up rock ‘n roll crowd.

The band’s latest effort, 26times comes blanketed in distortion and is pierced with accents of grinding bass, crashing cymbals, and percussion. During the eight-track mini album the quartet of Lucy (vocals), izumi (guitar), azu (bass), and Moe (drums), who are all heavily influenced by classic rock and 21 or under, blows out speakers in style with their brand of blunt yet clever and captivating rock.

Tracks like the opener “Liar”, “Navy Star”, “Chicken race”, and “Ring,ring,ring” fit comfortably inside their no-frills rock ‘n roll confines. All confront cursory concerns (the entire album is sung in English) and play like party anthems. The jabbing and shredding is kept from becoming grating thanks to clever composition with no elements falling needlessly out of place or popping up where they sound like they shouldn’t be. The sounds and textures may be erratic and rough but the execution is fine and crisp.

“Bitter Day” kicks off a transition that eventually bucks the wall-to-wall vocals/guitar assault trend thanks to an
instrumental-heavy second half that’s capped off with an inventive bridge. The lyrics turn positive but end with Lucy whispering, “Life is bitter chocolate and it never melts.”

“Now!” eventually sounds like its white-knuckled rock counterparts but the first movement builds up and helps to showcase LAZYgunsBRISKY’s ability to diverge from the anticipated. It walks gently and slow at first before accelerating into its teasing and frenetic climax.

26times concludes with “Abbey road”, perhaps the release’s strongest track. The song is softer, the gain on the guitar amp is turned off and glimmers of “ohh”-ing harmony poke through amid introspective lyrics of loneliness and longing. At just over two minutes long, the brevity of “Abbey road” is disappointing. It ends where one wishes it were half way through and since it’s the final track, it’s unfortunate that 26times doesn’t continue in this tone for a few more songs. The prominence of “Abbey road” is enhanced by the stark contrast drawn between its fine-tuned, reserved sound and the lively, extroverted works that precede it.

LAZYgunsBRISKY’s music is in your face, but not too much so. It’s close, intense, and impeding but is backed off far enough so the composition can actually be enjoyed for some of its beauty. Even the most long-haired, hearing-impaired, headbanging rock fan needs that sometimes.

LAZYgunsBRISKY was formed in 2006 and their debut album, quixotic, came in 2008. 26times is the band’s second mini album on Babestar Label, a subsidiary of Victor Entertainment.

Watch the PV for “Navy Star”:

Buy 26times by LAZYgunsBRISKY