Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The world doesn’t need satire, but it deserves it, and when the people are taken for a ride, when the greatest parody of all is the double talk of politicians and the rise of fear of losing it all to those with more money than sense, that is when satire comes along and grapples with the officers in charge of the ever diminishing cage.

Some will argue that there is a fine line between satire and realism, and yet as we face the disgrace of bankrupt and evil ideologies coming back into fashion, a healthy dose of realism is required to make sure revolt is always an option. In this charge against conceit and the side show of damnation of souls, Dog Bless You’s Banksters is a timely reminder that we have a choice, we can set a fire under the skirts of delusion and allow the caricature, the comedic travesty of our lives to no longer be welcome.

The French Riviera may not appear to be the birthplace of such insight, the crossover between energetic Punk sincerity and the biting Rock structure, and yet Dog Bless You prove that thought as nothing more than a misconception, for where there is anger, where there is wit, there stands beauty and as songs such as Stronger Than Walls, Queens Of Dogtown, As The Palace Burns, Salt Of My Road and Back In The Maze uncoil and unlock of the shackles of ironic distemper, a maturity of acknowledgement is found to breathing steadily, a calm ideal in amongst the ravages of the set to and the fight for common decency.

Banksters is an album of frankness, of plain speaking but supplied with a hymn sheet that electrifies and gratifies in equal measure. Never stopping to see if the damage is too severe, only pausing to make sure the general public and the audience are safely ensconced in the heart of value and spirit, Dog Bless You have hit the sweet spot in the marriage between social realism and musical performance.

Dog Bless You’s Banksters is available to buy now.

Ian D. Hall