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[ALBUM REVIEW] Barb Wire Dolls ‘Rub My Mind’

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Rub My Mind is the third, and follow up, album to the Barb Wire Dolls 2016 widely acclaimed Desperate record. Released through the late Lemmy Kilmister’s Motörhead Music label, Rub My Mind builds upon the solid foundation of the Barb Wire Dolls last two records, bringing to the table an eclectic assembly of songs.

I’ve always felt that choosing what song will be the first track on an album, must be at times a difficult choice for any band to make. Get it wrong, you risk people not giving the rest of the record a go, however, get it right and it generally sparks your curiosity, for wanting more. The opening track, “Back in the U.S.S.A.”, which is also the first single taken from the new album, definitely earned it’s stripes as the opening song. It was that catchy, I played it at least 4 times, before listening to the rest of the album. A great opening tune, “Back in the U.S.S.A.” sets the bar, and an expectation that the rest of the songs will follow, with the same excitement and pace as the opening track. “If I fall” does just that, with an almost Green Day feel to the guitars and bass, by Pyn Doll, Remmington Pearce on guitars and Iriel Blaque on bass.

Rub My Mind was recorded in the Joshua Tree desert at the illustrious Rancho De La Luna studio, and as such, having a song named the “Desert Song” is apt, considering the surroundings of where the album was recorded. This is probably one of my favourite songs on Rub My Mind, with the gritty, but at the same time dreamy and sublime vocals by Isis Queen. There is a real sense of maturity in the bands songwriting with this song, which almost makes you feel like you are being drawn to the magnificence of the desert itself. Listening to “We are champions”, although with its catchy riff, came across as too repetitive at times, and had me losing interest, but only briefly.

“Fade Away” is another great track that is full of memorable moments, with Iriel Blaques hypnotizing bass line throughout, complimented well by stunning guitar sounds, and the tight time keeping of Krash Doll on the skins. “Contract” is reminiscent of old school punk with it’s ballsy, no holding back lyrics. Just what the doctor ordered! The Barb Wire Dolls are categorized by some as punk, grunge etc., but for me they are simply a good solid rock ‘n’ roll band, who have released a very good rock ‘n’ roll album, with Rub My Mind. It’s an album that took me a few plays, to really appreciate how good it is, similar to the acquired taste of drinking a pint of Guinness, once you get it, there’s no going back. Rub My Mind was produced and mixed by Jay Baumgardner, who has worked with the likes of Bush, Papa Roach, Evanesence and many others, has helped Barb Wire Dolls in my view, craft their best album to date. Go and give it a listen, at least more than once, and you will find it it just keeps getting better.

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