Do Not Engage

This week Canadian garage rock duo The Pack A.D. release their fifth record Do Not Engage courtesy of Nettwerk Records. Since they formed back in 2006, singer/guitarist Becky Black and drummer Maya Miller have slowly been making a name for themselves with their own gritty brand of rock and roll. Now reunited with Detroit producer Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, Electric Six), The Pack A.D. seem ready for fame with what many are calling their best work yet.

The ladies of The Pack A.D. are firmly planted in the garage/grunge genre, but other musical periods are paid loving tribute on Do Not Engage. Opener "Airborne" sounds like it arrived out of the 90's shoegaze era and you can just picture the band covered in flannel rocking out onstage. Black rips up some overbearing fellow on "Big Shot" that has the rather interesting structure of a song from the golden age of rock. The clap-along chorus of "Animal" also harkens back to the aforementioned golden age, but Black's hypnotic riffs keep the song anchored to the present.

It took a number of listens until I finally recognized why exactly "Battering Ram" was selected as the lead single. Once listeners distance themselves from the album, whenever they find themselves humming or singing along to a track there is a 9 out of 10 chance that it will be "Battering Ram." I caught myself absent mindedly doing it after only a handful of playthroughs. "The Water" is a fun jam with Miller's drums sounding like a cascading waterfall paired perfectly with Black's distorting guitar. The final track "Needles" is the most subdued track with its soft, haunting vocals as Black laments that "every breath I take is a second I can't replace." Although we aren't very far into 2014, I think it's a safe bet that Do Not Engage will remain one of my favorite rock albums of the year. Fans of Detroit garage rock or early 90's grunge should enjoy this record the most. Highly Recommended.