Opinion from Austria, March 21, 2012

Best album of the year so far, ingredients: little bit of Jack White / Smashing Pumkins / Led Zeppelin / Beatles - fresh new sounds, strong brew, great guitar-sound.

When they rock, as they do on tracks "Sweet Sour", "The Devil Takes Care Of His Own", and "Lies", Band Of Skulls are at their best. The mellow tunes have some nice melodies and vocals, but tracks like "Lay My Head Down" are just plain boring. Musically this band is pretty solid, lyrically not so much. The chorus is most always the song title repeated three or four times, not much as far as catchy hooks go. In any case, they are still a decent band and worth a listen. They remind me alot of The Kills.

Being a huge fan of their debut album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, I have been eagerly anticipating this release and I can happily say I'm pretty keen on it. It's a little more on the softer side than the first album, so my only gripe would be that I found myself from time to time missing that harder bluesy southern edginess that got me hooked initially. But every band has to keep moving forward, it feels like a logical progression and after a few plays I'm equally addicted to it.I've seen them in Williamsburg (w/ Whigs and 22-20s) and they were f'n epic, going to see them in Boston next month and expect to be blown away again. Grab this album, you won't regret it, and don't miss these guys live if you get the chance.UPDATE: Just saw them last night, they crushed it, played so many songs and sounded great.