Having never heard of The Ratchets before, I kind of expected a more One Man Army/Rancid-esque experience, yet they’re more akin to poppier Clash moments, sugar-coated with melodies and layered synths. And while it’s punk rock, just as we know it, it’s a little weaker than the average punk rock bear.
‘Glory Bound’ is 10 tracks of relatively catchy and inoffensive ‘new’ old-skool punk rock, with large choruses and some gritty vocals. It’s the kind of thing Hellcat would love to release; the kind of band that I could quite easily see supporting rancid. Jed Engine has a couple of Tim Armstrong-isms in his vocals, the guitars are chunky and Rancid-esque and…yeah, you can see where I’m going with this. It’s a pretty good record, a little limited in what it does, but not being a massive fan of the genre, I was left pleasantly surprised.