Released: 20/04/09

Manchester’s punk/hip-hop/reggae troupe, Sonic Boom Six, are back with their third album, City Of Thieves; the fifth record to be released on their own record label, Rebel Alliance. The CD, with its striking, ghoulish cover is twelve tracks of the sort of pacey, addictive and in-your-face ska/hip-hop/jungle that you spend hours crawling through the night and dingy nightclub after dingy nightclub dreaming of hearing.

City Of Thieves soundtracks life in urban Britain with tracks about consumerism, traffic congestion, lawless youth, homelessness, binge-drinking and street violence. Not the most original of themes but the tracks are electric and are all complimented perfectly with Sonic Boom Six’s trademark distorted guitars, dubby grooves and Laila K’s distinctive, high-pitched, high-tempo vocals.

The album’s most endearing feature though is Sonic Boom Six’s ability once again to merge and intertwine several genres in the creation of their own distinctive sound. Throughout City Of Thieves you can find influences of ska, jungle, reggae, dubstep, electro, glam-rock, metal and hip-hop. For all intents and purposes it should be a confused mess but each track is tidy, honed-in and genuinely experimental without getting self-indulgent and pretentious.

Can’t wait to see it all performed live!

www.sonicboomsix.co.uk

Barry Deradish