Teenage Rampage

Album Review

With the three-chord attack of "Not One of You," Teenage Rampage begins brash and barely lets up over the course of its 12 songs. The four fashion-conscious Australian teens in Dangerous! are all about living up to their bad-boy image with dumb fun, simple hooks, and sheer volume. The songs boil down garage rock, pop-punk, and ‘80s L.A. glam metal to their bare essentials, as vocalist Tommy Icon rages like a rock star in his lyrics, screaming lines like “raise my glass to you, the movers and shakers, baby yeah“ and “drugs and violence, and sex and violence (these are a few of the things that I like).” Elsewhere, themes get sleazier, and at times gory (“Big Muff” addresses bugs crawling behind eyeballs), but listeners most likely won’t be pontificating meanings much. Dangerous! are one of those "love ‘em or hate ‘em"-type groups, made for people who are looking strictly for something loud and aggressive at the surface. Only one track clocks in at any longer than three minutes, and bar-chord riffs à la the Hives, cartoonish Axl Rose screech-singing, and a frenetic beat drive every song. While the album has a certain sameness, as far as high-energy lowbrow rock & roll goes, it is ideal for blasting.