The Tyrant Lizard Kings is a British stoner rock band that apart from the occasional nod in the direction of Motorhead sounds more American than anything else. Think classic Blast Tyrant era Clutch mixed up with the first Karma to Burn album and you’re halfway to Six Shooter.

The band has been around now since 2001 although Six Shooter is only the bands second album. Six Shooter starts with the one two punch of Yippee-Ki-Yay Motherfucker and Daddy’s Got You both of which have a lot of Clutch in them but also some of the laid back groove of Karma to Burn and at the same time, some of the garage rock inspiration of Nashville Pussy. After this, the album is a steady line up of catchy, melodic stoner rock and the band don’t really run out of memorable tunes through the course of the album. Gentleman’s Measure has a lazy blues groove happening complete with a harmonica and a lethargic vocal drawl while Scab has a bass and drum groove that leads the song into some melodic stoner rock territory. My Mouth is Rotten with Lies closes the album on a strangely upbeat but melancholic note after the party stoner fun of the preceding ten songs.

Now, The Tyrant Lizard Kings are not doing anything that’s particularly new. The songs all owe a fair bit to Clutch and Karma to Burn but where the Kings score over most of their contemporaries is in the fact that they seem to have a great ear for catchy melodies with a real pop sensibility. These songs have the potential for much wider recognition and acceptance if not for the heavy and dirty typical stoner rock production.

Six Shooter is a great album for driving around or generally listening to while travelling and the catchy grooves and sense of fun on this album is infectious. At the same time, like I said earlier, they’re not doing anything new. So if you’re not expecting an earth shattering revelation but simply want to light up a fatty and have a good time then The Tyrant Lizard Kings are pretty much the perfect band.

Label - Wasted State Records

Year of Release - 2009

Listen to The Tyrant Lizard Kings