Reviewed on May 17, 2008 by Niek

I completely missed the release of Danko Jones' new album "Never Too Loud" until I came across it a couple of days ago. Bought it without hesitation, knowing the raw rock of Danko Jones would entertain me after seeing them live a couple of times before.

My first impression was a rather good one. I listened to it a couple of times and the whole record just works. Danko Jones brings you 13 solid rock songs (I've got the digipak with two bonus tracks), this time with just a bit more variation as on their last release.

You can clearly hear that Danko Jones has grown and matured before recording "Never Too Loud". In comparison to the raw sound of "Sleep Is The Enemy", these new songs are a bit more tuned down and the vocals are cleaner and mostly sung instead of shouted. Is this a good thing you ask? Well, I don't know the answer to this, but Danko Jones definitely loses a bit of their identity/sound which made them famous. On the other hand you now have a well produced album with more distinguishable songs.

Still my favorite tracks on this album are those raw rock songs like "Code Of The Road" (single), "Still In High School" and "Your Tears My Smile", which are the songs you want to hear when you go see them live. That truly is the Danko Jones sound. I found it in "King Of Magazines" too, but that's just produced too clean.

"City Streets" and "Take Me Home" are the slower songs which have a little bit of country influence, not falsely compared to the Thin Lizzy sound. Very pleasing to listen to, and "Take Me Home" continuously makes me think of the John Denver song "Take Me Home, Country Roads".

The outsider song on this album is "Forest For The Trees" which could just as easily come from a System Of A Down album. The best part of this song must be the Lemmy-like vocals somewhere halfway the song, but it surely doesn't fit this album.

Overall it's a great album with great songs, but I doubt if "Never Too Loud" will ever be considered one of Danko Jones' better albums. It's just too neatly produced for the up-your-ass rock 'n roll fans expect. As Roel pointed out in his review of "Sleep Is The Enemy"; don't listen to it too often or it loses its charm. The same goes for "Never Too Loud", just pop it in your stereo on a summer evening, light up the barbecue and enjoy your beer.

P.S. I haven't read it anywhere before, so does no one recognise the guitar intro on "Ravenous"? It's an exact copy of "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness.

Related Links:

• www.dankojones.com
• www.myspace.com/dankojones

1. Code Of The Road
2. City Streets
3. Still In High School
4. Take Me Home
5. Let's Get Undressed
6. King Of Magazines
7. Forest For The Trees
8. Your Tears My Smile
9. Something Better
10. Ravenous
11. Never Too Loud
12. You Ruin The Day (bonus track)
13. Sugar High (bonus track)

Album Reviews

	Never Too Loud Feb 29, 2008
	Sleep Is The Enemy Feb 22, 2006