Last October, Joker’s Republic released an album that was one of my favorite albums of the year. I was fortunate enough to get to see them play live during the album release tour. When the band played a tour again this spring and they had a show about two hours away from my house, I was eager to go see them again. This new tour was with a new band – The Doomstompers – who were about to release their debut album. By the time they were playing a show near me, they had released three singles over the previous year. Those singles were all great.
The Doomstompers are a woman-fronted reggae ska and punk band that was signed to Bad Time Records. Their music is powerful and smooth, well-crafted and produced with excellent pacing. This is a band that you know is going to succeed as soon as you hear it: The new album has thirteen tracks of excellence all pressed into a single album for you to appreciate, dance to, relax with, and to just jam out. Whether you are picking out your favorite tracks, or putting on the record and listening from start to finish, you’re gonna be happy with the results.
The album begins with “…Away we go”, a short clip of someone asking why everything is so “heavy” in the future, and if that has anything to do with the gravity, before the band breaks into a heavy jam session. The track is thick with bass and drums, with the keys buried below for about a minute, before the music stops except for a quiet bass line. Then the rest of the band joins in a reggae melody rich in bass and keyboard, leading to a smooth finish to the song. No vocals on this one: Just a tease of what to expect on the rest of the album.
The first track with vocals is “Actin’ Up”. We get introduced to the ska/reggae/rocksteady rhythm that permeates the sound of the Doomstompers: No horns and a liberal use of the keyboard to maintain the melody and hold the rhythm. The sound is smooth and strong — melodic in a way that gets your attention — but the real joy begins the moment the vocals join in. It’s a strong voice that exudes a confidence like Alanis Morissette (not a comparison of voice, just the power and strength of the vocals), even if the lyrics in some songs betray that confidence and show vulnerability.
In “Actin’ Up”, the protagonist wants to go somewhere they feel safe and comfortable and let the rhythm take them away, and listen to something with some soul, which is exactly how I would describe this song. The track ends with about 40 seconds of instrumental jam featuring a solo by the keyboard followed by the guitar, and it’s exactly what the song describes: Something with a lot of soul that just takes you away.
The tempo spikes for “Next Week”, as the rocksteady drops and punk and ska picks up significantly. It’s a song about the eternal optimism of hoping things get better soon, and holy shit, is this a song to dance to. The vocals are more aggressive but equally strong. It manages to blend slower held vocal melodies with a driving and quick ska punk rhythm and some big guitar lines with heavy distortion.
The fourth track (the third vocal track) is “Stare at the Devil”, which is much slower and more reggae and dub, with another excellent vocal melody. Except this time, the vocal melody is a little quicker than the supporting music. The vocal melody established here is catchy and takes the focus while the song deals with topics of depression, insecurity, and chronic illness. As the song winds down and the final chorus repeats, we get some powerful held vocal notes that really grab your attention.
I love it when a band does what The Doomstompers just did with this album. Each of the first songs on the album sounds very distinct from the surrounding songs, highlighting most of the range you’ll find on the album. It sets a nice firm baseline for expectations, then widens the parameters for your expectations. When the band excels at everything they demonstrate, they can continue to expand their horizons.
“Brianna” is much more punk, and has a quick drum rhythm throughout the song and features masc vocals as the lead singer changes. There had been sporadic backing vocals used earlier in the album, but this is a fairly stark departure from the previous sound of the album, primarily in the texture of the song. The punk fits in well here because of the diversity across the previous four tracks. Then when the bridge kicks in halfway through the song, it hardens back to the reggae rhythms for about 45 seconds before transitioning back to ska. The song feels perfectly placed in the album.
Every song on this album is amazing, but to prevent talking about every one of them, I’m going to skip and go to my two favorite songs, even if that means I’m skipping several amazing songs like “Participation Trophy” and “Irish Goodbye”. I really love both and they are incredibly different. But two of the pre-release singles made me fall in love with the band, and I’d like to discuss both.
“Political Jokes” is easily my early favorite song on the album. Everyone knows I love political music, and this track features clever song writing, incredibly powerful vocals, and incredibly soulful rhythms that make you want to move. The song begins with a short tease from the guitar with hints of a fun unique solo that comes on the bridge. The keys in this song are terrific with several little changes that shape the vibe of the song every time they are applied to transition between parts. The excellent and poignant lyrics are about a government that doesn’t care about the interests of the people, with clever wordplay sprinkled throughout. This is just an incredibly well written and executed song that makes you want to sing along.
I feel as if this review has become a little redundant as I run out of ways to tell you how good each song is. The slow hypnotic vocals of “Undertow” are possibly my favorite. The keyboard solo mid-song is a serious vibe. The vocals get stronger and more passionate as the song continues to beg the listener to stay ashore.
Vocally, this may be my favorite album in quite a while. I think only Catbite and Space Monkey Mafia come to mind as competition on that front. This album has a distinct sound, excellent production, and incredibly powerful vocals.
Back to where I began this review: I didn’t actually get to go to see that show with Joker’s Republic and The Doomstompers. I started a new job the week of the show and it was a mid-week show. There was no way to make the two hour drive each way and I couldn’t take time off on my new job. I’m definitely going to regret missing the opportunity to see such an incredible talent before their debut album. Over 30 years ago, I missed seeing Blink-182 with my best friend before Dude Ranch came out. I feel like missing The Doomstompers is a bigger disappointment than that.
Take a listen to Take A Beat below.
Written by Gimp Leg
