For 14 years now, The Datsuns have tirelessly plied their trade in full-tilt retro rock. From Cambridge to the world, the Kiwi four-piece have tirelessly traversed the globe off the momentum of the early 2000’s rock revival sound and now they’re back with album number six, Deep Sleep.
Though they’ve never been shy of allowing their influences and inspirations to dominate their music, this is a record steeped in the sounds of yesteryear. From Sabbath (whose influence can be heard on ‘550 Eyes’) to Lizzy (seeping through on ‘Bad Taste’), almost every hard rock great is honoured across the record’s 10 tracks. The line between influence and pastiche that the band has always walked is finer than ever here, but they always seem to land just on the right side of parody, helped by excellent production and more than accomplished musicianship. The solos may be ridiculously over the top and the lyrics nonsensical but there’s a truckload of fun to be had amongst the madness.
Where the record comes unstuck is in its last-ability. Fun though it may be to dance around your living room to the turbo-riffed ‘Shaky Mirrors’, after a short while it really feels like you’ve heard it before. Not just the first time around from the depths of Dad’s record collection but in the influx of retro rock that followed (ironically) in the wake of The Datsuns revival of the genre the second time around (in the form of Jet, The Vines and Wolfmother to name a few). As a result, Deep Sleep is a good if not great record, which fans of the band and the genre should lap up but others could find lacking.
