Customer Reviews

Distillers

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is what punk rock should be. Plain and simple. This record is passion driven, and an excellent example that punk is not yet dead. Brody is a smart girl who knows what she's doing and she knows what she's writing about. I've never heard a punk rock album this good from a man. I don't know where the comparisons to Courtney Love's voice comes from. Honestly their style of singing is completely different. Brody's voice is gravelly, gutteral and vicious. The anger and fuel that this record holds is amazing. Stand outs from the album include:

* Oh Serena - Makes you want to turn up the player in your bedroom and jump about. This song has some great power chords and excellent vocals.

* Idoless - An utterly explosive song. A punk rock anthem. The chorus where she screams "IDOLESS" over backing vocals of "Syndication" is fantastic. Once again, great song writing.

* World Comes Tumblin' - Arguably the catchiest song. GREAT lyrics, explosive, and packed with messages, this song is definitely a gem.

* Open Sky - "Open skies, open ether, all rise up inside" This is song is one of my favourites. The lyrics are smart, the chorus is explosive and there's a bass guitar solo by Kim Fuelleman that blew me away. She's an amazing bassist.

* Red Carpet and Rebellion - This song is so emotion driven it made me cry. It just squashes you. Listen to the chorus and you'll know what I mean.

* Colossus U.S.A - Amazing. Pure and simple.

* Gypsy Rose Lee - The first love song that actually made me want to cry...although this song is a far cry from the others due to its lyrics, its still explosive, fast and heavy. The lyrics are absoloutely priceless.

I would reccomend this record to punk fans throughout. This is REAL punk as pure as you get it. This would make blink-182 wet their pants and it would definitely make Pink cry. This one's a debut gem. Even if it costs you more than $20 its worth the money.

So some of today's punk rock purist say the Distilers are for posers, but they can sod off. This album is fabulous. Hard, fast, and totally passionate. The Distillers makes your blood pump faster, and adrenaline surge throught your veins. The songs have that beautiful simplicity and edge that is almost completely unique to the late seventies punk scene. Brody does proud to the old and all but forgotten tradition of great female-fronted punk acts like The Slits, The X Ray Spex, and The Plasmatics.

My personal favorite tracks off this album are "The World Comes Temblin'," "L.A. Girl," and "Open Sky," but there's a lot of great tunes here. Pop it in, pump it up, and slamdance-round your living room!

First off, in case you haven't noticed, it's nearly impossible to read anything about the Distillers or Brody Armstrong for that matter, without hearing about Rancid. Frankly, comparisons like that undermine them immensely.

What you'll get on here is a lot of hard-hitting pure punk rock, but that doesn't mean the music's stupid. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, I'm amazed at how little credibility the band's gotten from the general public. The brash vocals and the pounding bass just make up a deal of intensity that, yes, is usually reserved for first releases. However, this album is less raw than their sophomore release, and less structured as well. The Distillers take influences and sounds from all over the spectrum to make an intelligent, memerable record.

Lyrically, they're unique as well. Brody wails about the problems of the world, but also does an awesome Patti Smith cover ("Ask the Angels"), and screams about problems closer to home for the rest of us. Condescending punk rock? Hardly.

I heard "LA Girl" on the "Give 'em the Boot II" complilation and I couldn't wait for this CD to come out.

As someone else said, Brody sounds like a cross between Courtney Love and Tim Armstrong. That's hitting it right on the head.

This CD is song after song of hard hitting raw LA style punk rock. No slow songs, no experimental dub stuff, just pure punk. It's plain excellent.

My advice to you, pick up "Give 'em the Boot II," listen to "LA Girl," if you don't love the song don't buy The Distillers CD, if you do - grab it.

This album is phenomenally tight. The first track blasts at you at a million miles an hour. "Oh Serena" begins this delightful little opus; 13 tacks later you are left craving for more. At first listen the songs reminded me of the first rancid record, the more subsequent listens i gave it the more it had a sound of it's own. Brody's voice is among the gallery of instantly recognizable voices in punk (shane macgowan, duane peters, and davy havok included). The music is fast and gets in your face.
The lyrics are remarkably intelligent, complementing the intensity of the music. There is so much feeling put into this album. A definite throwback to old school punk (the way it should be). The gang vocals are incredibly powerful and Brody sings with so much passion (especially blackest years, listen to the crack in her voice).
I was fortunate enough to see them LIVE at the warped tour on the 2nd stage. Brody, Casper, Ryan, and Andy were just bouncing along playing for the small crowd of about 100-200 peeps. It was definitely my highlight. Casper and Brody are both hot.

i am a die hard patti smith fan, i love early hole ..pretenders first album..kick it... this band or should i say this lead singer brody is vocally all those woman rapped up in one plus joey ramone splashed in ...gets you in the gut ,if you get. like old nina simone, old patti smith, old dead boys stiv baby...the best band i heard in years.....cant wait to see them live, if you wanna feel something drop this cd in your stereo put headphones on and feel the push of realle intence power of a vocalist who know how to sing and make you feel with each guttural note she sings..

i just picked this up and i am so glad i found it. this is some great punk rock. better than most stuff you hear today, and a lot better than most of the punk you hear on Epitaph (i did notice that Hellcat, although part of epitaph, has much better music than Epitaph does!). I think only Rancid and NOFX even come close to this. it's got grinding guitars, harsh vocals, banging drums...and a bass somewhere in there. really good music.

i can't belive i didn't notice the connection between Brody Armstrong and Tim Armstrong. good for him! she seems like quite a catch.

When I got The Distillers self titled debut in the mail, I was really excited. I had listened to the sample clips on Amazon, and I knew it was good. I was really surprised at how great it was, far more than I was expecting. I think this album is even better than Coral Fang.

1. Oh Serena- This song is a really good song. It gets stuck in your head really easily, and is a great way to start off the album. Brody Dalle's vocals are really great on this song. 4/5
2. Idoless- This is actually one of my favorite songs on the album. Energetic guitar, and raspy punk vocals make this a perfect song to listen to. There would defenently be a mosh pit started when this song came on. 5/5
3. The World Comes Tumblin'- Great riffs in this song. Brody's voice is excellent on this one, too. The chorus is catchy and the rest of the song is aggressive. 4/5
4. L.A. Girl- This is another one of my personal favorites. Brody seems to place her screaming in the right place all the time and Casper's guitar playing is perfect. Great bassline in this song. 5/5
5. Distilla Truant- Starts out with a great riff by Casper and Brody's scrathcy, almost grunge wail at the right time. Great harmonies on this song. The lyrics are swell as well. 5/5
6. Ask The Angels- This is my favorite song on the album. Great guitar solo, and Brody's voice is once again, punk royalty. The gang really did a spiffy remake with this one. Great cover song. 5/5
7. Oldscratch- Really short, and sweet. Very hardcore. Fans of Simple Plan and all the other "punk" bands might be scared by this. 4/5
8. Girlfixer- Great vocals by Kim Fuellman on the verses. Dandy vocals by Brody on the chorus. Brilliant lyrics on this one. It ends too soon. 4/5
9. Open Sky- It starts off with Brody singing really sweetly, with a slow tempo and then it speeds up and she starts growling and wailing again. 5/5
10. Red Carpet And Rebellion- Fantastic lyrics and riffs in this song. The drumming is peachy keen. They pull it off again. Quite the toe tapper, too. 5/5
11. Colossus U.S.A.- Great introduction to this song. They keep it up the entire time, in pure punk fashion. Cheeri-o I say, cherri-o. 5/5
12.Blackheart- Really raspy, scratchy, punk GOD vocals on this one. Brilliant lyrics and music. 4/5
13. Gypsy Rose Lee- Again, Brody starts off really sweetly singing, very lulliby lyrics and music. It speeds up a bit, and makes an excellent love song. 5/5
14. The Blackest Years- A purrrfect way to end the album. It comes with a hidden track at the end and that's also good. Totally punk lyrics too. Not slim pickins' here. :) 5/5


All in all, this would scare the little Avrils running around out there.

I just picked up this CD today and since then I have listened to it over five times all the way through......I'm still not sick of it. One of the best albums I've heard in a long time. I'm a big fan of Rancid, and I have to say that this CD from Tim's wife almost tops any of Rancid's albums. If you like Rancid, you'll like this. For that matter, you'll like it if you are a fan of punk of any kind. Brody Armstrong has the coolest voice I have heard in a while and her vocals are backed up with great guitar riffs and melodies. Loud, fast, it's impossible not to love it. So all in all, you need this CD. And even if you don't, GET IT ANYWAY! Trust me, it's addicting.

Though this album is not as good as their latter albums, The Distillers debut still is one of the best CDs in my collection. A genuine punk album with heavy influences from Hole and Rancid, this album showed the punk world that The Distillers really have something special.

Standout tracks include the explosive opening song, 'Oh Serena', the cover of Patti Smith's 'Ask The Angels', and 'Gypsy Rose Lee' featuring Brody's sexiest vocals.

If there is a better example of true punk rock, I've yet to hear it.