Garage punk has meant different things over the years. There are plenty of mall punk teens who don’t know who the Dead Boys were and think Iggy Pop is an actor.
Watain are happy to stick with the blastbeat/wall of sound hallmarks of the genre. But they twist these conventions in such creative and satisfying ways.
The Panic Broadcast reveals itself to be a great record, sitting alongside the Swedes’ last few albums, but not matching the brilliance of Natural Born Chaos.
Donora is derivative, but what in rock’n’roll isn’t? A female-fronted poppy trio your girlfriend would like, but solid enough to play a Corin Tucker tribute.