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Brooklyn’s Lord Sonny the Unifier is back with another serving of his signature “biker psychedelica” on the new album America’s Newest Hitmaker. Combining elements of 70s punk and heavy metal with the sound of newer artists like Viagra Boys and The Black Keys, Lord Sonny’s first full-length album since 2019’s Final Notice! shows off a heavier hard rock side laced with a generous helping of synthesizers for extra flavor. Lord Sonny, real name Greg Jiritano, wrote the album during COVID lockdown, imagining it as the lost work of David Bowie in an alternate universe, and although Bowie never ventured into territory quiet this heavy (with the exception of Tin Machine), it’s easy to spot the askew, art rock tendencies at play.
The lead single and opening track “Howl” sounds like Lemmy produced by Berlin-era Brian Eno, and the title is a fitting one as he screams and yells brilliantly throughout as if his vocal cords are being ripped out in real time. The wonderfully-titled “Don’t Be An A**hole” contains the great line “Just leave everybody alone who ain’t doing nobody no harm” which is a perfect philosophy going forward in 2023. The production on the album was aided by Tony Maimone of Per Ubu, and the songs truly benefit from a bombastic, larger-than-life sound. Lord Sonny the Unifier truly outdid himself here. America’s Newest Hitmaker is out March 3rd, and will be released on vinyl by Interstellar Smoke Records.
