Rating: 9/10
Release: 26 April 2024
Label: Independent

The Jolly Jackers are a five-piece punk folk metal band from Budapest, Hungary, and when I wrote a review for their last album, I was, perhaps, too critical. They’re amazing. Great, punchy vocals are met with a whistle, fiddle, and a great collection of talented performers.

“Welcome to the Grind”, the album’s title and first song, is a great opener that every adult working nine to five (often more, sometimes less) will appreciate (“I’d rather slit my throat than do this anymore”… Hell yeah, sister). It’s followed by “Feed the Cat”, which I rushed to show the girlfriend. It’s got spirit, and a great music video. The third track is “I’m Not Drunk” and it’s a Chumbawumba-style anthem that has a Celtic melody. The album is full of song phrases that sound like they’d fit in with Irish session tunes, and that’s just great writing.

I’ve given the album a solid 9. “Why not ten?” you may be asking. I can’t hear you because “Feed The Cat” is still playing loudly in my earbuds. Top track! Sadly, the album is only 32 minutes long, and the best songs are stacked at the front. This isn’t to cast aspersions at the songs toward the end of the album– “Reflection” mirrors (heh) one of my favorite tunes of all time in the intro, and “I Failed You” (what a title!) is a technically fun song that I want to learn and play with some friends. And, with the album being short, the songs are, too. A lot of talent is condensed and truncated. Bridges and intros that could be extended into entire songs are stuck into ten or fifteen seconds. It’s a lot of awesome in, perhaps, too short a time.

This album, as short as it is, is full of hits. I jumped to their bandcamp page to buy it after the first listen. There’s heart, warmth, personality, and an insane desire to dance in every song. They’ve captured the essence of folk metal. I was lukewarm about the Jackers in the past, but I’m wholly on board now. These songs are little treasures that jump and run into your ears and run to your soul. Check them out!

Tracklist

1. Welcome to the Grind
2. Feed the Cat 
3. I’m not Drunk 
4. Dance in the Madness
5. Horizon
6. Absolution
7. Nightmare Disorder
8. Paper Plane
9. Reflection
10. I failed you