Metro Villa – Limousine
Say what you want about the dinosaur rockers of the 1970s who are still around and selling out arenas, but those people lived and, typically, have the scars to prove it.
How could they’ve done it any other way? There weren’t yet any career advisers telling them how to dress and what songs to write. Tabloid magazines weren’t fast enough to grab photos of all their nights out. And, well, there was no virtual reality in which to sink in as an alternative.
Of course, the things that those old rockers got up to, for the most part, are terrible and even repulsive. But they were real, and the people who wanted to join up had to physically walk out of their house, into the concert arena and come face-to-face with real life if they wanted a part of it.
Where can you find that anymore? Probably in some sweaty basement, or some bizarre church planted on a mountain top somewhere. Metro Villa, at least, are decrying the old times and have had enough with this fake reality.
Don’t believe them? “Limousine” has the riffs and the rock swagger to make you believe. Metro Villa sound, at the same time, glammed-up and ready for a fist fight. It’s a mighty combination, and it used to work when things were dead real.
Takeover – Buffalo
It’s just when you stop moving that things start to hurt. And, rock n’ rollers are never supposed to stop moving. They’re not meant to fall prey to bad thoughts about things meant to be left in the past. They’re not the kind of suckers, like you and me, who lie awake feeling sorry for themselves about some terrible life choices. No, they just keep moving!
Maybe that’s why rock music sounds so arrogant and snobbish. Maybe this is why so many have a problem with rock songs in the all-too-judgmental era of 2026. To be fair, rock music never prioritised empathy.
But, all the same, it’s why so many people find hope and truth in this kind of music as well. When you listen to Takeover blasting through a song that tells you how leaving the love of your life makes no difference, it’s hard not to feel some kind of appreciation.
It moves fast, too. “Buffalo” has the quality of sounding like it was written on paper napkins and recorded all in one take. It’s the sound of rock n’ rollers moving as fast as they can before regrets can have any power over them.
