Redneck Wonderland

Amazon.com
Meet the new Oils, same as the old Oils. Well, sort of. On Redneck Wonderland, the Australian group's 12th long player, Peter Garrett & Co. conjure a brave new sound, employing heavy distortion, synths, and clanging metallic percussion to drive home their proclamations on race, ecology, and national policy. When rock & roll mixes with politics, the music often suffers, but the Oils have always been at their best when speaking directly from their hearts, as on "White Skin Black Heart," "What Goes On," and the title track. Certainly Aussie-centric screeds such as "The Great Gibber Plain" will have more resonance Down Under but, more often than not, the Oils speak plainly, pointedly, and with a sense of urgency missing from their music since their landmark albums Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky Mining. --Daniel Durchholz