If you’re looking for subtlety and nuance, then keep on walking, because coyness is not Monster Truck’s style, as their name alone implies and their fourth album confirms amply. Rammed with old-school riffs, joyful gang vocals and choruses crafted with beer-sodden festival crowds in mind, Warriors is a testosterone-fuelled celebration of rock’n’roll at its most primal, grimy and sweaty.
The opening title track is particularly Old Spice-scented, its galloping pace and battle cry of ‘We fight till we die’ married perfectly with a gleefully howling guitar solo from Dave Baksh of Sum 41 – one of several guest appearances that includes Black Stone Cherry’s Chris Robertson on the swinging, southern-spiced Get My Things And Go.
Fuzz Mountain tugs at the hem of Black Sabbath’s bell bottoms, but the biggest surprise here comes with Country Livin’, a full swerve towards the double-denim, self-mythologising cowboy life that sounds very much like it’ll be in a beer commercial in years to come.
While times are tough, Warriors offers the moment of pure, uncomplicated escapism we could all do with right now.
