They Cut Me to Ribbons and Taught Me To Drive
3 Out Of 5 Stars
What strikes me about The Gaslight Anthem and their album "American Slang" is just how quintessentially New York/New Jersey they sound. There's nothing arty or pretentious about them, and their songs run on the same kind of fuel that fires up the best of Springsteen devotees. At the same time, there's a punkish element about the sound that puts them separate from the millions of Asbury Park wannabees. Mix in some Against Me and Thin Lizzy, and you get "American Slang."
There's a lot of braggadocio and bluster to be found here; nostalgia is a thing to be discarded. "God help the man who says if you'd have known me when" lead singer Brian Fallon snarls on "Old Haunts." Like Springsteen, The Gaslight Anthem's kids are too busy racing in the streets or fighting in the rings ("Boxer") to worry about the past. There's a slugger's soul pumping behind the best songs on this album. There's also an ambitious band finding its core. On "American Slang," these guys try to find out if it's buried in the heart of the Bronx, and make a glorious racket in their hunt.
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