Winnebago Deal - Career Suicide (We Deliver The Guts)

It has been four years since the two Bens (Thomas – Drums, Perrier – Guitar/Vocals) were last setting pulses racing and fists pumping with their second full length Flight Of The Raven confounding opinions that the Oxford duo were the grittiest punk rock group the UK could offer. In the time since there has been a splurge of new talent coming through, which is great for us as listeners, but it also forces the ‘Deal to step up their game, something which the guys have done with aplomb.

The essence of Winnebago Deal is pretty simple: nothing extravagant, play loud, fast, and hard. Career Suicide opens with the aptly titled ‘Heart Attack In My Head’, which to many may look like the band have started where they left off with thumping beats, gravelly screaming vocals, and relentless battering drums, but the duo have tightened a few screws in their musicianship, and rather than just allowing themselves two minutes to go nuts, there’s an improved song structure added with honed production skills.

Those with their fingers on the button may have heard the tracks ‘Murder Will Out’ and ‘Frostbiter’ on the band’s myspace over a year ago in demo form, but it was a form which captures the boys at their best, and closest to their highly praised live performances. On Career Suicide, these songs have been perhaps over produced and lost almost too much of their raw essence, but then again it’s not easy to capture the intensity of a puck rock band on record. While the band sound like they may have lost a little of their reckless side, the lyrically dexterity of the band has remained constant, basically able to soundtrack the greatest B movies of mindless violence, revenge, and the vigilante mentality, the perfect recipe for punk rock aesthetics.

Career Suicide packs in 14 tracks in just 30 minutes, leaving you breathless, but baiting for more. ‘Avalanche’ and ‘Suicide Pact’ will be setting all ill-conceived mosh-pits alight over the coming months, and if you’re not in amongst them, well, you only have yourself to blame. It’s always the sign of a nigh on perfect record that leaves you gasping for more when it comes to an end, and by the time ‘Can’t See, Don’t Care, Don’t Know’ reaches its climax, Career Suicide is no different.

Whether the core fan base of the duo remains to be a select few, but a dedicated few at that, remains to be seen, but Winnebago Deal deserve to get the plaudits and the success off the back of what is the strongest record of their career so far.