The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang (Review)

Its easy to see that artists from particular regions can influence one another, New Jersey collective The Gaslight Anthem take both home and influence from the worldly known Bruce Springsteen. However we must forgive this due to 2008’s superb breakthrough The ’59 Sound.

The Gaslight Anthem brought a unique and interesting record to the popular forum. While frontman Brian Fallon’s rugged but sensitive vocals and wordy blue-collar lyricism may have seemed familiar, the fact is that these guys were punks, something that Springsteen never, ever was. Sure, the music was anthemic, but the mix was rattling, rough, raw and thrilling.

Having delivered a first must have release we find ourselves deep in concentration, making notes and trying not to take their new record too seriously, often a problem with regularly reviewing new releases. Despite coming in shy of 35 minutes and retaining the services of ’59 Sound producer Ted Hutt, American Slang is an altogether cleaner-sounding affair than its predecessor. As such it’s not so much a bad record as a weirdly redundant one: four talented, passionate musicians do a perfectly reasonable job of making a record that sounds a good deal like vintage Springsteen, but fail to really leave their own mark on the music.

You do find with this record there is more a classic rock dynamic rather than punk, “I got your name tattooed inside of my arm,” grunts Fallon over a selection of backing shouts and coos. This album does little to build on its quite clear influences. The ’59 Sound possessed a more manic sound that set it apart from Springsteen, this on the other hand does leave you feeling a little short changed. With the first record delivering something fresh, this album is a little to safe.

Having said this the album does have hard rocking guitar sections, the scrappy chant that ushers in the lithe Boxer is great fun. Maybe if we’d received this album as their first release it would be just what the musical doctor ordered, however this album does little to boost their live catalogue.

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