Shadow looms large (The Datsuns) (LP 4273 - 4279)

The Datsuns  The Datsuns (CD, Shock Records, 2002) *****  

The Datsuns  Outta Sight/ Outta Mind (CD, Hellsquad Records, 2004) **** 

The Datsuns  Smoke & Mirrors (CD, V2 Records, 2006) *** 

The Datsuns  Headstunts (CD, Hellsquad Records, 2008) *** 

The Datsuns  Death Rattle Boogie (CD, HellsquadRecords, 2012) **** 

The Datsuns  Deep Sleep (CD, Hellsquad Records, 2014) ** 

The Datsuns  Eye to Eye (Vinyl, Hellsquad Records, 2021) *** 

Genre: NZ Music, hard rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: MF from Hell (The Datsuns)

Gear costume: Blacken My Thumb (Outta Sight...)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: I love hard rock. It gets the blood thumping, my head bopping and my feet moving. I'm especially proud of The Datsuns. Part of my teaching career took in Cambridge High School where these guys got together. My eldest son was good friends with Dolf's younger brother.

The mainstay band members are Rudolf "Dolf" de Borst on vocals and bass guitar, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell, both on guitar. Their early seventies influences (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy) are obvious but so what. They do what they do so well!

They have contributed some superb hard rock in the 2000s, beginning with their amazing debut album in 2002. Every song hits home but the highlights are MF from Hell, Fink for the Man, Sitting Pretty, Freeze Sucker, Lady...actually every song is brilliant!

I was a little disappointed with their second album at the time and I can't think why now - the production by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones is great and the riffs and melodies are there as well. Ignore the critics and embrace Nu Zild's finest rock band (yes - better than Shihad).

Album number 3 - Smoke & Mirrors continued the prototype Datsuns brand of seventies inspired rock music. Blood Red is a highlight - displaying their customary energy, commitment, and melodic riffs. It's not as consistently brilliant as those first two albums though.

Headstunts was next in 2008. At this point the band was producing one new album every two years. Nothing much new on Headstunts, apart from new drummer - Ben Cole. For most of the songs, the sound collage feels a little more claustrophobic this time out. 

Kudos to the band for trying something new and expanding into more prog rock shapes on two tracks - Eye of the Needle and Somebody Better. Both stretch out and show the band are more than just a seventies fixated hard rocking boogie band. Overall - although it's got some good rockin', it's not an album I play much.

Death Rattle Boogie feels much more like it. Dolf's singing is back to its powerful best this time out as they embrace their true rock out selves again. The riffs are more potent again as they return to the form that led to those first two albums. There's more prog leanings to this one as well - with even a hint of Muse like prog metal.

Deep Sleep is their sixth album, released in 2014. It speeds by in just over 30 minutes but it doesn't sound as inspired as Death Rattle Boogie.

It's still very recognisably The Datsuns with it's retro rock sounds and Dolf's very distinctive vocals, but not a place to start if you are new to the band. That honour would go to their debut, Outta Sight/ Outta Mind or Death Rattle Boogie. The Sabbath influence is most pronounced on Deep Sleep - especially 500 Eyes.

An unusual seven-year gap came before their latest album - 2021's Eye To Eye. This is a much better effort than Deep Sleep as the boys (no longer boys) have a spring back in their steps with some almost punkish energy (Buzzcocks style). 

It's uneven, for sure, but the good bits make this a return to form. Highlights are the opening track - Dehumanise, Brain to Brain and Bite My Tongue.

Where do they all belong? You certainly know what you're getting with The Datsuns. After seven albums, they are now masters of their brand of rock'n'roll.