- Violent Soho have just released one of the best records you will hear all year. Great, glad to be able to clear that one up right from the start. WACO is the band’s fourth studio album and is filled with some of the best rock tunes any Australian band has put out in a long while. The Brisbane four-piece have been building momentum ever since the rather unanticipated, but thoroughly deserved success of their previous record Hungry Ghost. Now faced with the task of following-up that record, the band haven’t shied away from the challenge in the least. Instead they’ve thrown themselves in head first and emerged with one of the most accomplished records you're likely to ever hear come out of this city. They’ve stayed with local producer Bryce Moorhead, and as expected this looks to have been a great decision. If you had to pick a single contributing factor working in its favour, it’s the success of the previous record, allowing the band to take their time and focus on writing and recording this new album without distraction.

Opener How To Taste is one of the heavier tracks here and really hits the ground running. It’s soon followed but the fast drum beat and amped up guitar riff of Blanket, which keeps the momentum going. Viceroy is a real stand out, with a bass line that Interpol probably wish they’d come up with first and a gritty scream from front man Luke Boerdam leading into the chorus, you’ll be subconsciously humming this song for days. So Sentimental steps away from the hard rock choruses and fuzzy fretwork and it’s here the band really start to show their versatility. Only four tracks in and each song has been so different, yet not a single note feels out of place. Like Soda begins with another terrific bass line and quieter vocals that then build into the head-banging chorus festival crowds around the country have come to know and love.

Violent Soho aren’t about to be put inside any box, no matter what you try and label them.  Sure there’s grungey garage rock aplenty but the band don’t shy away from exploring subtle, softer moments, instead they embrace them, which gives WACO so much more depth and character. Evergreen is sure to be another live favourite, with guitars and bass coming at you from all angles and Holy Cave has one of the best guitar riffs of the record. The album ends with Low, a slow burning almost-ballad, that you’d never have seen coming back at the top of the record. There are so many intricate sonic elements throughout WACO that absolutely demand another listen. At different points Soho’s sounds are linked to the great rock bands of the ‘90’s and early 2000’s, but at no point are they shackled by these influences.

Violent Soho’s music seems to resonate with an incredibly varied and eclectic mix of people, though perhaps none more so than those from their hometown. The boys from Mansfield have always whole-heartedly embraced their Brisbane heritage, and their trailblazing performances of late have energized the local scene in a way that’s likely be felt for a long time to come. The band are about to embark on a ridiculously sold out album national tour and most of the people going haven’t even heard WACO yet. 2016 is truly Violent Soho’s year and we’re just living in it.

- Clare Armstrong.