Lola Black

Even though Lola Black’s lineup includes former members of Blister 66, Snapstick Dynomite and the Eight Bucks Experiment, the band’s new six-song EP, Día de los Borrachos, isn’t entirely a punk affair. Sure, there’s a punk spirit in revved-up cuts like “Hit the Road” and “Take Back,” but the rest of the tracks are more rooted in refined hard rock and metal. Full of catchy hooks and riffs, “Better Left Unsaid,” the EP’s opener and strongest track, borrows from both worlds. Throughout the disc, frontwoman Lola Black, who sounds like a grittier and more vigorous Gwen Stefani, is not afraid to belt it out when she needs to. Although the EP’s title means “Day of the Drunks” in Spanish, the partying seems to have stopped at the studio door, because the band sounds tighter than ever.