Album Review: The Bogarts – “Nothing To Call Our Own”

Let’s talk about a group of individuals who are anachronistic in every sense of the word. Out of time, out of place… The Bogarts, a four piece hailing from Thousand Oaks, California are angry about all the right things in their latest release, “Nothing To Call Our Own”. Now, let’s talk about the material. Albeit a bit different from the former two releases from the group, the album is a fantastic full-length. Perhaps it’s a slight change in the line-up that brought around the differences, or…perhaps it’s just a step in a new direction. Whatever the case, that step is certainly the right one. For their newest release, The Bogarts seem to be stepping into a fast grunge-esque genre. The punk roots are still very obvious, of course, but something is different.

My first impression? 90’s Alice In Chains minus Layne Stayley plus Wattie Buchan minus the English accent plus Dave Grohl x2. (That last bit can’t even begin to hold a candle to Moritz, the impressive Bogarts drummer.) Were Chains to amp up the speed a little bit and ever-so-slightly adjust the gain on the amps, you might come face to face with this monster of an album.

My only complaint (and it is small) is the lack of guitar solo in differentiation to Ideologies, their 2011 E.P. The guitar work is still fantastic. The progressions are stellar, and vary from your everyday “4 chord anthem”. The solos, well, they’re still there, but they’re different.

A few songs to look out for: Bridge Burners, a good example of the speed and anger that has stayed omnipresent in the bands entire career. The song serves as an EXCELLENT intro to the album. Another, and most likely my favorite at the time of this writing is Half Empty. This song is reminiscent of their former E.P.’s, and for this reason, I like it a lot. I still see much to come in the future for this Southern California quartet.

5/5