The live stage is where you can only truly capture the power, intensity and sheer insanity of Gogol Bordello, for sure. These world wide-cum-Americans have been plying their wares since the turn of the millenium and, however you much you may think you hate gyspy punk, you'd have to be a sour puss party pooper not to appreciate that what they do is simply incredible.

However this is no show, ladies and gentlemen. Gogol Bordello live and breathe this lust for life, particularly via founder, frontman, singer, songwriter and veritable showman, Eugene Hutz. His heart is full of song. And song is something that he passionately believes is art.

On record, unsuprisingly, Gogol Bordello have always struggled to match the bounce and passion of their live show. But they always give it their best shot, particularly never more so than with this, their eighth studio album. Despite having been attracted to top notch producers in the past such as Rick Rubin and Steve Albini, Hutz felt he had accumulated enough knowledge to go for it himself in this instance. And he rises to the occasion, as only someone with total intimacy in their own work, can really do. Seekers and Finders positively bursts out of the speakers from beginning to end, the band's essential rawness and sometimes melodic cacophony captured as well as might be expected in the confines of a relatively sterile studio environment.

Out of the blocks they come, via the super-charged, densely packed country-punk 'Did It All', with big guitars and big violins competing and co-operating within the dynamic structures of Hutz songs, which are almost invariably well thought out pieces that refuse to stand still. 'Did It All' is both a proud boast and a continuing desire. As is the Balkan-folk-rocker 'Break Into Your Higher Self', a motivational song if ever there was one, that sorely tests your ability to keep up the pace, if you should attempt to do so. And 'Familia Bonfireball' is also a celebration of the Gogol Bordello spirit, this one initially underpinned by restrained reverberated guitar before it breaks out into a dancefloor stomper, Hutz' heavily accented voice cracking at the strain towards the end. So it continues with 'Saboteur Blues', a mini-philosphical maelstrom that debunks Descartes' 'I think therefore I am' maxim in favour of the irrevocable sub-conscious that really speaks to us, if we only properly knew. "I think therefore I am, no longer rings the bells," Hutz’s sings amidst the searing punk guitar chords, hi-energy gypsy violin motif and a terrifically bouncy bass.

Yet it's not all an incendiary call to arms on Seekers and Finders. 'Walking on the Burning Coal’ is a mid-tempo western-style rocker with mariachi interludes as Hutz contemplates his desires: "I was walking on one cloudy morning, with a certain shadow on my soul. Underneath the shadow there was yearning, feet are walking on the burning coal". While the title track is a slower paced, Eastern European-style duet with Regina Spektor, that once again celebrates the human spirit and our need for companionship and understanding, as they drunkenly ask: "Which are you, and which am I".

There's also an experimental edge to Gogol Bordello, particularly on 'If I Ever Get Home Before Dark', a weird dream-like affair underpinned by a metronomic rim beat, and allied with dual guitar and accordion, voices in and out of the mix, and the odd thrashing interlude. It's a bit of a non-song, somewhat out of character, but which nevertheless remains compelling thanks to the sheer lust for life that provides the foundation for all their work.

They call themselves immigrant punks, but believe in a borderless world as epitomised by their global membership. With the world seeing the rise of nationalism and protectionism, Gogol Bordello remain the perfect antidote to all that fear and loathing. We are, after all, one big party.

Jeff Hemmings

Website: gogolbordello.com
Facebook: facebook.com/gogolbordello
Twitter: twitter.com/gogolbordello