If the Stooges and AC/DC had hooked up to jam in a basement somewhere, I'm not too sure the results would have been any different than the album Bonk has created with Against Nothing. These Norwegian garage punks have mixed together a bunch of influences and created a slick yet dirty rock and roll album.
Recently some friends and I got into a discussion about musical tastes and pretentiousness. To sum up the conversation, there are a few types of music. There is music you like because you're supposed to like it, and there is music you like because it's good, and when you drop the pretentiousness, it becomes easier to tell the difference.
This is where Bonk comes in. In order to get into this record, you're going to need to drop some attitude. This is not a record for the smug, melodramatic or pretentious, and emo kids need not apply. Against Nothing is simply a bunch of Norwegian rockers who love to rock, and so they made a record for people who love to rock.
The record opens with "The House", which adds some booming dirty riffs to a Who-inspired classic rock sound, and closes with the melodic, dramatically overblown "Lord, Give Us Your Hand." In between, there is a half hour of additional music; nine tracks that make it impossible to frown and uncomfortable to not pump your fist in the air.
The sounds on the record run a wide range. Stellar tracks like "Life Is Noise" and "Bonk Against Nothing" are all rock star swagger, combined with so much good-natured coolness that simply listening makes you both cooler and nicer by proxy. And garage tunes like "The Homecoming" and the sax-infused "Young Men", that wander from heavy-hitting riffs to stripped-down melodies, prove that Bonk is familiar with every era of garage rock, not just the latest stuff.
You know when you're at a party hosted by someone who's a really good host; he's the guy working the room talking to all the guests, more intent on making sure that everyone is having a great time than on enjoying himself. That's Bonk. They have painstakingly created an album focused on making sure you have a good time. They did the work, all you have to do is turn it up and relax.
