Album Review: Bless Off by The Shrine

Armed with a seemingly endless supply of killer riffs, the Shrine attempt to re-create the primordial ooze that gave birth to California skatepunk with Bless Off. Feeling like the product of a gnarlier, more shirtless era, the album doesn't just evoke the rebellious sounds of bands like Motörhead, but instead evokes the feeling of listening to Motörhead while cutting school and looking for an abandoned pool to skate. While there's certainly something nostalgic about Bless Off, the album is solid enough to stand on its own without spending a lot of time worrying about whether or not the listener is obsessed with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

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The second full-length offering from The Shine finds the Chuck Dukowski--approved Los Angeles skater/stoner-rock trio more or less picking up where their last album, 2012's Primitive Blast, left off--which, if you dig Marshall pedals through Marshall stacks, rampaging boogie grooves, and plenty of raised-middle-finger attitude, is welcome news, indeed. The head-whipping likes of "Tripping Corpse," "Napalm," and the title track sound pretty rad whether you're skating a bowl or just smoking one, but there's also an underlying musical sophistication at the heart of tracks such as "Nothing Forever" and "Hellride" that points to potentially even greater things down the dragstrip. DAN EPSTEIN .

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During SST’s tenure in the latter half of ’80s, Saint Vitus and Soundgarden defined the iconic California post-punk label as much as—if not more than—scratchy, early post-punk trios like the Minutemen and Hüsker Dü. That gap was bridged by Black Flag, whose guitarist Greg Ginn owned SST and also helped convert the label’s flagship group from a blistering hardcore terror cell to a simmering hard-rock menace. Current Venice Beach trio The Shrine has ties to Black Flag; the elder group’s former bassist Chuck Dukowski contributed unused Black Flag lyrics to “The Duke,” a highpoint of The Shrine’s new, sophomore album, Bless Off.

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