Rise Of The Rat play a fairly unforgivable brand of Aussie pub rock; a mid-eighties sound that seems loosely influenced by Hunters & Collectors, Goanna and Midnight Oil, revived with a po-faced sincerity for I don’t know what audience with about a quarter of the finesse. The lyrics are equally humourless, though they fall short of the “biting social commentary” promised in the press release: “Chivalry is dead when the blood runs blue, principles are beared by selected few, unseen…at the top we’re untouchable.” Fundamentally, I agree – rich people are cunts – but inept class warfare waged in rhyming couplets is just embarrassing.
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