You could have been forgiven for believing that Johnny Panic were the cursed descendents of Egyptian tomb-raiders given the bad luck which befell them following the release of their last album in 2005. Said album failed to reach much acclaim due mostly to record company incompetence and to top it off, singer Rob was struck down with excruciating and life-threatening septicemia while on tour.
In a kindly dose of karma though, their comeback was kickstarted by various good fortunes, including getting a grant to be able head to Austin, Texas to play this year's SXSW, and subsequently to pay for their second album.

"Dislocation", then, is the resuscitation single, and from the first power chords which spear towards your ears, they demand your attention and state their aim to overcome. In fact, with lyrics like 'All I needed was to find a little dislocation', it seems the band greet failure and adversity in the face and see it instead as just further fuel for inspiration.

They're an in-your-face no-shit band who make you think they must be lying when they claim 'Boredom turns me on': there's certainly no breathing space on this track. After the jangle of verby feedback in the first few seconds, they launch straight into hard-hitting riffage and licks, propped up by a bass which sounds like it's being played through a furnace, along with countless lead vocal tracks. With producer Chris Sheldon (Oceansize, My Vitriol) on side twiddling the nobs, the single's also given a suitably enormous sound and production. It seems fitting that singer Rob Solly notoriously moonlights as a cage-fighter (no, really): they sound like a band in the throes of a winning bout, back and ready for more and ready to take you all on.


Chris Thomas