My ongoing, if somewhat unintentional, quest to find new things that fall loosely into the area of punk in 2019 has led me to a new and nicely scuzzy low, thanks to Aussie quartet Amyl And The Sniffers.

Originally based out of Melbourne their first album proper, a self-titled affair following EPs Big Attraction and Giddy Up (now available combined into an ‘album’ of sorts), was released in April 2019 and shows a band consciously taking elements from the history of the genre and, sneeringly, sticking a pair of fingers up at it and doing exactly what they want.

With that the record kicks off with a, by their standards, extended garage rock intro on Starfire 500, before Amy Taylor’s voice comes in, all sneer and snarl and the combination sets the scene nicely.

Across the next half hour the band drop in references to everything from the Detroit garage rock of MC5 and The Stooges to hints of the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned and on to suggestions of DC hardcore, mixing it all up to create something very much their own.

They describe it, according to the NME at least (yes apparently that’s still a thing), as pub punk, because they’re a punk band who spend most of their time in the pub, but in many ways that’s to do them a disservice.

Compared to their past EPs things here sound far more complete with better production, though of course still suitable scuzzy and fuzzy, and more inventive songwriting standing out, though a strong streak of crudeness and a sense of a band saying a collective ‘fuck you’ to pretty much anyone remains.

After the brilliantly crude Gacked On Anger and big hardcore vibes of GFY (largely thanks to rhythm section drummer Bryce Wilson and bassist Gus Romer), its Angel that’s slows things down for the first time, though manages to do so without losing any of the sneer.

Monsoon Rock adds something of a surf note to the garage (though don’t expect any clean twangy guitars) and some mosh inducing drums. It also highlights another thing that sets Amyl And The Sniffers apart as they aren’t afraid of a good old fashioned fuzzy guitar solo as guitarist Dec Martens does a great job of shredding up and down the fret board.

While the second half of the record presents more of the same, if anything it gets fuzzier and scuzzier as it goes on with highlights like Control and Punisha before it’s all rounded off by the intent stating Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled) which pulls everything together to close the record on a genuine high.

While they fit firmly in with the ongoing punk revival of the late 2010s, Amyl And The Sniffers provide something of an antidote to the explicitly political and polemic outlook of many bands but in doing so add their own outlook and edge that still has a lot to say, even if it’s covered in a veneer of classic punk snot.