Dark0 Bonsai Mammoth

If there was ever a time for a true global resurgence of punk rock, that time would be now. When the current wave of pop nostalgia wears off and more and more forward-thinking, liberal, young creatives wake up to a very different, and altogether darker, political, social, and environmental reality, people will be searching for a sound to define their times. Darko's new album, Bonsai Mammoth, will be there waiting.
The subject matter of the Guildford, UK skate‐punks’ new record, echoing the intensity of their music, suitably shines a light on the big issues we all currently face, and encapsulates all of the modern age frustrations that are now ripe for exploitation by our best and brightest punk bands. This time around, the band have taken a step back from the narrative weaved through earlier EPs to focus inwardly on more personal subject matter, although they aren’t ruling out returning to their familiar concept style records any time soon. Hitting the studio with a whole new perspective, Darko worked with producer Daly George (Creeper, Milk Teeth, Giants), who helped them navigate through their new approach to song writing and to experiment with new sounds and ideas. The final touches were provided in the mastering process by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Iron Reagan, Poison Idea, Stranger Things). With musical salutes to riff‐thrashers like Protest The Hero, straight‐up skate punk legends Strung Out and the melodic hardcore of Comeback Kid, Bonsai Mammoth delivers wholeheartedly and shows a real progression to the band’s sound, a continuation of a journey this band of DIY brothers are only just beginning. They’ve refined their sound, toured worldwide and grown a frenzied fan base, and whilst the positive moments might have been punctured by recent world events, disrupted by dark politics and tinged with a forbidding sense of general unease, this record serves as an audible barometer for exactly what’s going on right now in our troubled world.