It’s country music but not as we know it which begs the question: Have
these Bad Kids of 21st Century rock ’n’ roll finally grown up on their ninth
studio album? ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ continues to flick
the middle finger to one and all. This ain’t another gaggle of bearded
southern sons fleeing their collective suburban upbringings and collegiate music
education. There aren’t the usual clichés about drinking, honkytonks, and
heartbreak. These are, after all, the same Black Lips who rescued the waning
garage punk subgenre. They
also dug contemporary hip-hop and punk and actualized themselves Like so many
dramatic moments in the Black Lips career, ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling
Apart’ was born out of crisis. The band’s stylistic evolution through
decades of prolific touring and recording took them where no garage punk band
had gone before – huge venues, network television shows, and major music
festivals. Here Black Lips are at their grimiest, most dangerous and equipped
with the best collection of songs since the aughts. They roll on with an
unapologetic southern-fried twang, pacing the beast, every now and then dropping
a psycho howl into the rubber room madness lurking underneath the truckstop
fireworks. This ain’t your granny’s country album. And conversely this
ain’t your mama’s Black Lips.