The Dirtbombs

Anyone who’s ever read, talked, or thought about rock albums has often come across this criticism: “This would be so much better as an EP.” Many musicians have a habit of building LPs around a couple of good songs and devoting the rest of the space to uninspired filler tracks. They seem to prefer making long, mediocre records when they could create succinct, exciting ones.

So when a band recording an EP decides to extend it to an LP, it’s usually for the worse—unless, it seems, that band is the Dirtbombs. Originally conceived as a five-song EP, new full-length album “We Have You Surrounded” reaches the stratospheric standard that the Dirtbombs have set for themselves over their 13-year recording career.

Originally formed as a side project by Mick Collins of Detroit garage rock legends the Gories, the Dirtbombs have continually proven they can use excess to their advantage. They have been known to record with two bassists and two drummers, adding an extra dose of raw power to Collins’s original compositions, and their wide catalog of cover songs ranges from punk to funk.

“We Have You Surrounded” finds the Dirtbombs combining all their musical strengths onto one disc. Soulful second track “Ever Lovin’ Man,” with its Motown-esque background vocals, harkens back to their widely-praised 2001 covers album, “Ultraglide In Black.” Elsewhere, the gritty “I Hear The Sirens” adopts the party-pop ethos of 2003’s “Dangerous Magical Noise.”

The undeniable standout track is “Leopardman At C&A,” a sinister rocker with lyrics by graphic novelist Alan Moore of “V for Vendetta” fame. The song, based on the graphic novel of the same name, paints a savage, futuristic world of “barcode face tattoos,” “vegan cannibals,” and barbarians that use “the juice from cell phones” as war paint. Tribal drums and Collins’s menacing vocals perfectly communicate Moore’s vivid imagery, producing one of the most unique and exciting songs in the Dirtbombs’ catalog.

Through their previous albums and seemingly infinite output of singles, the Dirtbombs have built a reputation as one of the best cover bands in the business, recording their own takes on popular artists as varied as Elliot Smith and Yoko Ono. On “We Have You Surrounded,” they tackle more obscure songs: “Sherlock Holmes,” originally by Sparks, and “Fire in the Western World,” by the recently disbanded Portland band Dead Moon.

On “Sherlock Holmes,” the synth flourishes of the original are replaced with a heavy guitar line while Collins showcases his impressive falsetto, transforming the glam rock tune into a darker affair. “Fire in the Western World” conveys less all-out hysteria than the original punk song, with the vocals pushed into the background and a slower tempo, but a military-style drumbeat maintains the song’s sense of urgency.

The album’s missteps are few. “Race To The Bottom” is an eight-minute, heavily distorted instrumental that most listeners are likely to skip, but as the penultimate track it doesn’t detract much from the flow of the album. “It’s No Fun Until They See You Cry,” the album’s opener and an intended tribute to Mark E. Smith of The Fall, is an adequate homage, but does not stand up well next to the other, more engaging tracks.

“We Have You Surrounded” is not a perfect album, but it’s definitely worthy of its extended length. A large majority of these songs are extremely enjoyable, so it’s hard to imagine this outing as an EP, which would have meant cutting tracks like “Indivisble” and its infectious “dum-dum” chorus or the ironically joyous “La Fin Du Monde.” In a genre where critics rarely believe that more is better, the Dirtbombs have produced a remarkable achievement.

—Reviewer Jeff W. Feldman can be reached at jfeldman@fas.harvard.edu.