The Perpetrators
Album: Stick 'em Up
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.theperps.ca

The Perpetrators are a blues rock band formed in 1999 in Winnipeg, Canada.

Stick 'Em Up is the band's first studio album since 2007.

I'm afraid on this evidence they should have waited a little longer. For a band that has won Canadian awards for their previous work I was left underwhelmed by this offering.

The guitar work was sluggish and at times so disjointed it sounded like a practice night. The songs were largely banal. Shake It, Take You On and Bad Man all follow tired and tested formulas of riff-based blues rock but it was mostly undercooked and left me distinctly lukewarm.

However, the opening track - Sweetgrass - is a Berry-esque road song that tries to get as many place names in as possible and is one of the better tracks on this album.

Smokes and Chicken features slide guitar and a decent groove but the repetitive lyrics - "Get the gun outta my face" - just wears you down. One of the other tracks is I Must Be Crazy. Sadly I have to agree.

John Knighton