CD Review: Danko Jones - "Sleep is the Enemy" (2006)

Fresh off a cross-Canada tour opening for Nickelback and with new drummer (and my fellow St. David Catholic High School alumni) Dan Cornelius in tow, Danko Jones comes forth with more of juiced-up cock rock on this, their third release. Part of a burgeoning scene that includes Toronto artists like C'mon, Maximum R n' R and Shikasta, Jones combines the best riffage of AC/DC with the cockiness of Prince and the unapologetic in-your-face attitude of the Sex Pistols.

Great tunes like "Baby Hates Me" could certainly give Canadian rock radio a much-needed shot in the arm, but instead, we are subjected to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" for the millionth time and so-called edgy material like 54-40, Big Sugar and Tal Bachman's "She's So High" 7 years later. Isn't there more to CANCON than this?

This album has handclap choruses, lyrics which mention giving people the finger, maddeningly hook-laden choruses like on the tune "First Date". However, despite moments of brilliance on "Sleep Is the Enemy", Jones' frenetic live show doesn't translate as well on to vinyl. The energy is there but it just comes off way more strongly and intensely when you're seeing it right there on stage. Even still, if there was any justice, Jones would be more a household name in Canada than he is. No doubt I'll be at his next sweaty, raunch-filled club show when he next comes to town. In the meantime, check out his Stockholm-based radio show here.

Overall rating: 7/10