Believe it or not, The Vibrators are a British punk rock band that formed in 1976 and actually hit the ground running with their public appearance at the 100 Club when they backed Chris Spedding that very same year.

The band signed to Epic Records in early '77 and their debut album, Pure Mania was co-produced with Robin Mayhew, the sound engineer for David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust live shows. It reached the Top 50 of the UK Albums Chart that year. Indeed, the album is well regarded by some music critics and, 17 years after its release The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music named Pure Mania one of the 50 best punk albums of all time!

Now one of the only surviving UK punk bands from that era, they have chosen 2014 to not only release a brand new album, Punk Mania - Back To The Roots but undertake an extensive North American tour also.

The first track is the politically-challenged 'Retard,' the faster-paced 'Blackout' following close behind. The mid-tempo 'Love Like Diamonds' is next, with the punk/country-tinged 'No Sweat,' the catchy 'Bleed To Death' and both the speedy 'The Ohio' and the pop melodies of 'She's A Girl' along next.

With this new album containing 17 brand new tracks, being one of Punk's innovators none of them are very long. But they are truly just long enough, if you get my drift. None of them have the true raw punk fire that existed back nearly 40 years ago now, but each one is still a delightful flashback to a golden, albeit short era of music. 'Rats' is a track that bounces along nicely, and also includes a shout out to Johnny Depp, before we then get 'Turn The Radio On' and 'Harness.'

Another punk/pop/country-tinged track is along next in the form of, 'Just Be True,' before the gang step it up for 'The Other Foot.' Next up is the tell-it-like-it-is 'I Wish I Had A Gun' ("People who are cruel to animals, I'd kill them all", and that's backed by the Offspring-sounding 'Fix.'

Produced and mixed by original bassist Pat Collier, and featuring guest guitarist Nicky Garratt of The UK Subs on five of the tracks, next up is the CD includes three bonus tracks. These kick-off with a blistering version of the Flamin' Groovies classic, 'Slow Death,' before the whole album is then brought to a close with both 'Get Me A Beer' and then finally, 'On My Way To Hell.'