First of all; the photo on the cover-sleeve automatically gives you certain expectations to the content.
The picture being more than a little inspired by Mötley Crüe’s “Too fast for love”-album, sadly
might be one of the most appealing things on this record. When that is said, Harbour Hookers
have made a ten-step leap up since the last recordings I heard from them. “Are we true Romantics...”
is probably best to be described as a fist in the face, though I’m not quite sure whether it’s one of those
annoying fists you often get while waiting for a cab at 3 o’clock in the morning, or if it’s more like
an arousing bitch-slap from your girlfriend during nightly activities. The first song “Built for the Kill”
doesn’t really appeal to me at all, it’s basically just as exiting as a bag of beans. That description also fits
the song “Wasted”. The three other songs, on the other hand, is quite entertaining. My personal favourite is without a doubt “Brutal Beating”. It has a very catchy chorus and some very cool melody-lines on the
lead-guitar, and when they manage to throw in a little Chuck Berry-fill in the guitar-solo as well, I’m sold.
The second and the fifth song on this 5-track EP are packed with good metal-riffs and cool breaks, and both songs gives me clear associations to what Metallica were doing before they started making ballads.
“Are we true Romantics...” is definitely a record you can survive perfectly good without buying.
What keeps getting to me though, after listening to it a bunch of times, is that even the tunes I’ve already described as crap, have some really cool parts that makes them worth another listen. And that pretty much
adds up my impression of this record; not quite romantics, not quite sluts, but still worth a spin and a listen.

www.harbourhookers.com/

6. march, 2006
**Billy McBarbie**