The Damned Things
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
Blender Theatre
New York City, New York
August 26, 2011
Tony Pijar

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster is of one of the hottest up and coming bands out there. They hail from the great southern state of Birmingham in Alabama and walk it like a natural born southern band should – no pretense with these guys! They’ve got three albums under their belts with a fourth in the can and ready to move on 27 September. The band is best described as the Georgia Satellites on steroids. It’s southern rock with a twist of metalcore; works surprisingly well. Their most well known song, “Step Up” is a slide-dominated killer that is one of the best things you’ll ever hear. Can’t wait to check out “IV”.

The Damned Things has been labeled a super group of sorts; not sure I’d go that far, but collectively these guys do pack a wallop. Anthrax’s Scott Ian may be the most recognizable name on the roster, but the others deserve similar plaudits. Rob Caggiano played with Anthrax from 2001-05, Keith Buckley and Josh Newton are the vocalist and bassist for Every Time I Die, and Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley are the guitarist and drummer, respectively, with the Fall Out Boys. I’m not sure if this a one-off kind of project, but I hope they can find some time in-between their other responsibilities.
They’ve just released “Ironiclast” and it’s a kick-ass album. The sound is a mesh of the above bands with a cool groove to it. Live, of course, the sound was colossal with a very heavy bottom reverberation that made my heart skip a few beats. Their whole album was aired with the standout tracks being the single “We’ve got a Situation here”, “Handbook for the Recently Diseased”, “The Blues Havin’ Blues”, and the title track. It’s rare that you get to see a great double bill in a club/theatre setting, and on this evening the opener outshone the headliner…but just by a slight edge.