Amyl and the Sniffers “Cartoon Darkness” 2024. Limited edition “Scared of the Darkness” glow-in-the-dark vinyl.  I needed some angry, snotty, funny modern punk today. Cartoon Darkness is the band’s third studio LP. It’s been nominated for the J Awards’ Australian Album of the Year and went to #2 in Australia, #9 in the UK (it barely squeaked into the top 200 in the US). We’ve seen Amyl perform a few times and will be seeing them again in May 2025; based on their latest release it’s going to be total ripper (as always). I have a lot of favorites on Cartoon Darkness. The opener “Jerkin'” is balls-to-wall rock, its lyrics nasty AF – dumb but hilarious: “You’re a dumb c**t, you’re an asshole. Everytime you talk you mumble, grumble. Need to wipe your mouth after you speak cuz it’s an asshole. Bum hole, dumb c**t. You are ugly all day, I am hot always…” you get the idea. You’ll have to go to Amyl’s website to see the original X-rated video and confirm you’re over 18 to watch it and read a content warning (it’s fine, just natural body parts in all their glory). “Motorbike Song” is another rocker with easy to understand lyrical metaphors (“Can you be the bike, can you be the f**k. I wanna feel like the moty-b going down the highway, going over speed). “Doing in Me Head” has a killer buzzy guitar hook and “Pigs” is a classic punk/speed metal thrasher. Amyl and the Sniffers do occasionally slow down on Cartoon Darkness – “Big Dreams” reminds me of 90’s girl-grunge (ie Hole in particular) and they even get prettily funky on “Bailing on Me.”  And while the final track “Me and the Girls” is not in my top musically (the electronic effects are a bit disconcerting), I love its female-forward, f**k off message – plus an infectious beat.