Dirty Tricks

Hard edged emo-tinged riff rock with distorted vocals is what you get from Montreal’s Dirty Tricks on their Bloody Breakfast five-song EP. With a very current sound and an op-art/supergraphics-inspired visual image that fits right into the fashions of the day, Dirty Tricks could appeal to a spectrum of fans from Rocket from the Crypt all the way through to "screamo" rock. While no one could argue that songs like "Rebound" rock out, there just isn’t a ton of personality or spark in the grooves, which leaves the Tricks safely fitting into the generic "cool" modern rock category. "Yellow Patient Wristband” comes the closest to breaking the mould with its more organic garage stop/start vibe, but overall one is still left wondering just who these guys are.