Guilty as Sin

This Australian trio features vocalist/guitarist Dom Mariani (Stems, DM3), who replaced Danny McDonald and wrote five of the songs; bassist Ian Wettenhall, who also contributed songwriting and lead vocals; and Mickster on drums. They're hardly the only garage revival band around, but they're definitely one of the better ones. Guilty as Sin's first half-dozen tracks hold up particularly well, displaying a relatively strong sense of melody and musicianship while avoiding the common garage rock pitfall of similar-sounding songs blending together to form an indistinct blur. "Green with Envy" is an especially memorable track with its catchy chorus, cut-short rhythms, and Mariani's fine guitar playing, and the band makes good use of its freakbeat-garage-psychedelic influences on other songs as well. Their inspiration does run a bit thin near the end, and their remake of the Creation's "Biff Bang Pow" is credible although not really necessary, but the band knows how to kick out the fuzz-fueled jams. ~ Todd Kristel