ninehertz

While far from perfect, No Waves, Just Sharks is a great pick me up when you've found yourselves wallowing too long in depressive doom waters. The Mad Doctors, from Brooklyn, blend garage, surf and good old stoner rock, conjuring images of the likes of Electric Frankenstein, bolstering that b-movie, comic book imagination through cheesy samples greeting several tracks.

Yet at its best this album wins you over in a more subtle manner than the bravado constantly displayed, through the simple but effective stoner flow and rhythm that is breezy and infectious. The Ballad of Jort Dad may portray good time abandon, but with an appreciable psych glow allied to the swinging stoner, grit allied to fuzz warmness. The nicely titled Springwater Supper Wizard mirrors the unhinged nature of Eighties Matchbox B Line Disaster atop the psychedelic wanderings of Comets on Fire, a fantastic combination we surely can all agree on.

It loses its way a touch in the middle, but then Justin's a Cop and Dial M (For Sultry) bring it back - this is how I'd always hoped bands like The Shrine would sound. There's a natural punk beat, with several nods to the Ramones, or more pertinently the Misfits - She's a Psycho probably the most prominent.

There's more than meets the eye with The Mad Doctors, and all the better for it, improved upon generic first impressions. It may still be nothing new, but this is garage/stoner rock done with spirit, groove and some cracking tunes.