Simon RushworthDoomsday Outlaw — Damaged Goods (Republic Of Music)
If this is Doomsday Outlaw’s take on Damaged Goods we’d love to hear the perfect product.
Seriously — there’s no hint of a creative dint.
This is a polished piece of work without any discernible rough edges.
It’s a record that sparkles from start to finish.
And if the beautifully understated black and gold vinyl version on constant rotation at Rushonrock HQ looks like a piece of coveted treasure then it plays like a lazy, hazy 70s-styled dream.
Damaged Goods? More like a pristine example of peerless NWOCR quality.
So what sets Doomsday Outlaw apart from the crowd?
Is it the band’s instinctive ability to fuse retro-fuelled riffs with future proof hooks?
Is it a willingness to jump across genres with casual confidence?
Or is it an inbuilt songwriting craft that continues to defy expectations and raise the rock and roll bar?
It’s all of the above and more.
In frolicsome frontman Phil Poole, this classiest of quintets boasts a genuine game changer.
The multi-talented vocalist can comfortably channel Tyler, Stewart, Robinson and Hagar.
And often all at once.
Poole is, perhaps, the most exciting British rock singer to emerge since The Answer’s Cormac Neeson.
His ability to switch from affecting blues to soulful Southern rock and back again makes for a deeply rewarding listen.
And it ensures Damaged Goods is no slow-burning grower: its appeal is instant.
Doomsday Outlaw has delivered a 12-track statement of gutsy intent that gives Poole and co. the perfect platform to go big and go hard.
Welcome To Outlaw Country
Last summer Rushonrock raised a glass to festival-ready anthem One More Sip.
We toasted a fine and dandy tune that confirmed Doomsday Outlaw as the premier party starters.
And we held our breath in expectation of the band’s widely touted follow-up to 2018’s Hard Times.
Damaged Goods doesn’t disappoint.
And it says something that the superb One More Sip is just one of a slew of supercharged modern rock anthems collected here.
There’s the foot-tapping brilliance behind the Black Crowes-infused Walking The Line.
And then there’s the glammed-up T-Rex riff driving the wonderfully optimistic On My Way.
If This Is The End could have been Bon Jovi’s biggest stadium ballad in another lifetime.
But it’s the groove-laden, Southern rock stomp of Turn Me Loose that truly raises the bar with a scorching solo to die for.
Poole saves the best for last with a vocal tour de force on emotional set closer The Little Things.
And it’s those little things — the keen attention to detail and a determination to maintain a steepling level of consistency — that ensure Damaged Goods never misses a beat.
Last summer we enjoyed One More Sip.
Fast forward to 2023 and we’re drinking in one of the year’s most outstanding vinyl releases.
