Death Valley Girls

Of all the phrases ever used to describe Ramones, “re-inventing the wheel” was most certainly not one of them. Some took this as disparaging, but what they did was take the design of the wheel and perfected it. There’s nothing wrong with this. We need bands like Ramones, and in this case, Death Valley Girls to provide that firm foundation of rock. 

Darkness Rains is the 3rd album from the band whose sound can best be described as California space-doom, which is really just a pretentious way of saying that they rock. They are what would have happened if Bliss Blood joined The Donnas instead of forming Pain Teens.

Tracks like “Abre Camino,” “More Dead,” and “Street Justice” showcase vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Bonnie Bloomgarden’s voice well— a warbling siren’s howl echoing through the streets of Los Angeles. 

There’s a comforting familiarity to Death Valley Girl’s music and to not have it be necessarily derivative takes no small amount of skill. 

7.5 / 10 — Kevin Fitzpatrick