SBÄM Records – 22 Apr 2022
Hop on for another go on the Snuff show
At this point in their career, long-running (minus a couple of brief breaks) UK punks Snuff aren’t really trying to win any converts. They’ve been around long enough, and have established an instantly recognizable sound, that anyone who is familiar with the band pretty much know what they’re getting into when the needle hits the vinyl. Snuff’s newest album, the full title of which is (deep breath) Crepuscolo dorato della bruschetta borsetta calzetta cacchetta trombetta lambretta giallo ossido, ooooooh cosi magnifico!, is one of three things: 1) an album to satisfy Snuff fans, 2) an album for people who don’t dig Snuff’s gig (booo!) to ignore, and maybe, just maybe 3) a gateway album for someone who’s never heard the band into a whole world of Snuff-age (is that a phrase? it is now).
Before I talk about some of the individual songs, I’d really like to point out some things that surprised me. The first is that, at a lean ten tracks total, I think this may be the shortest proper studio LP the band has put out. It’s also over pretty darn quick, at a bit over 25 minutes. While I love Snuff, I do sometimes feel that some albums have a bit of filler on them. With this pared down LP, I found myself enjoying it a lot more as the sum of its parts simply because of these aspects.
Crepuscolo Dorato launches with “Looks Alright from Here”, a classic Snuff song that starts out shiny and melodic, then rolling into the verses with Duncan Redmonds belting out the vocals in what is reminiscent of some of the band’s noisier numbers before rolling into a catchy chorus, and back and forth. It transitions quickly into the pre-release single “Green Glass Chippings” and, if the lead track had inklings of some of the band’s wilder songs, “Green Glass Chippings” exemplifies Snuff’s uncanny knack for writing stupidly catchy tunes that just beg to be sung-along to in a crowded venue.
Then when you think that you’ll get a breather, “One of Those Days” comes up next and, maybe, outdoes “Green Glass Chippings”. Maybe musically and compositionally it doesn’t reach as far, but it does bring in the Hammond organ and, by golly, if you like Redmonds’ singing voice and ability to land lengthy hooks in the chorus that, literally, can set off the endorphins, you’re going to love this one. If I was in Snuff and/or Stefan Beham, I would’ve really put forth an effort to get this song as a pre-release single. It’s a hit.
Jumping forward a bit is one of the outliers on the album, and maybe in Snuff’s entire oeuvre: “Barba Gelata”. This is one of their many instrumental (or partially instrumental) songs, but eschews horns and the organ for a straight up drum/guitar/bass experience. It features alternating metal-ish sections with some traditional melodic punk, creating something that could be considered thrash if the parts didn’t feel so completely separate despite still resting on the same overarching theme. Of note is the bass line which has a more twangy, crisper tone than found on the rest of the album. It is damned catchy and a treat to listen to. I was in the car when I first heard this track and ended up repeating it several times before moving on. It was a surprise, and an enjoyable one at that.
The album finishes on on the mid-tempo “Bing Bong” which fits into the quiver full of Snuff’s more happy-go-lucky songs. It’s a fun track to listen to but, if I’m being honest, when you have some of the best album closers of all time in tracks like “Who” (Demmamussabebonk 1996), “Take Me Home” (Tweet Tweet My Lovely 1998), and “Job and Knock” (There’s a Lot of it About 2019), it falls a bit short as it feels like it just tapers off, not really finding a way to finish. It isn’t a bad song by any means but, editorially, I would’ve preferred it be elsewhere on the album with something else closing it all out.
In the end, where does Crepuscolo Dorato leave us? Is it the best Snuff album? Probably not. Is it worth grabbing a copy even for the casual Snuff fan? Definitely. Whether by design or not, the short track list and brief run time only serve to make it a much tighter package than it has any right to be. At ten songs long, all of them are, at the very least, good with several just outright excellent, it’s a stellar entry into the discography of a band that keeps pumping out awesome music . As the title says, it is “ooooooh so magnificent!”
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
