The Mutt's Nuts

The revelation on the London band’s second album isn’t how exquisitely they channel the shout-along camaraderie of classic British punk and oi (“It’s Me Who’ll Pay”, “Beat That Drum”), or even how they downshift into their ballads (“Take Me Home to London”, “Life’s Lemons”). It’s how their balance of melody and muscle captures a history of working-class music from pub rock to Northern soul, The Jam to Thin Lizzy (“Coming Up Tough”, “Life on the Bayou”). And if hardcore purists find them inauthentic or too poppy, it’s only because they’re more interested in entertaining a wider audience than nurturing their subcultural roots—a transition The Clash made 40 years earlier. Like its title, the music on The Mutt’s Nuts is clever, down-to-earth, rude and a little salty. Bottoms up.