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CITIZINE REVIEWS Plus: Unsigned artists rock
for your attention. ---
On this four-song taste from the ever transmogrifying Bullet Treatment, the band's musical chairs take a new twist, and a coalescing Bullet Supergroup springs into action, comprising the following elements -- First, there's the new addition on vocals, Ms. Liza Graves, star (frontwoman) of Civet. Then, there's Chris of the Voids who takes over on guitar on this record. Bullet Treatment guru Chuck D. lays low on the low end, while Dave H. (of The Drips) returns on drums, driving the band with his ever-ringing thunder beat. So is Bullet Treatment going soft? *** No, Wake Up! They'll eat you alive! *** Pick your poison on this record -- it's all fast (except for deceptive build-ups and breakdowns). On wax, Ms. Liza Graves has the raw, heavy smoker vocal thing down pat, and pulls off the "naked chicks with guns" act without a hitch on the striking cover art. Like all the promo literature says, this band is all about the "American Hardcore" style that existed briefly in the 20th century before any metal influence integrated / infiltrated into the punk rock sound. This record is missing a bar code, meaning that in the world of numerically arranged lists of every record, tape, CD, DVD, book, and publication released in 2006, the Dead Are Walking EP won't even exist. This is a shame because, whether it's missing from the global register of Universal Product Codes or not, bar code or no, this will be one of the year's great punk records.
This is an amazing sound. The beat begins and the high-pitched feedback of "police eternity" squeals like a distorted pig. The songs begin with hums and distant rumors, and the noise creeps up and up till the missiles are almost streaming overhead in a maddening, deafening fury. In the nameless third track, it seems like a thousand bells and cooking timers, a dozen drills and saws, have joined together in well-assembled cacophony till being whisked away into a distant mountain tunnel. The rumors of war continue to the end. After a lengthy pause (enough time to simulate flipping an LP record, I suppose) "Neon War" is unveiled. Assembly lines for munitions and occasional machine gun fire punctuate the massive build-up in sonic forces. The music breaks down with a basic electro-beat structured around competing waves of keyboard echo and gusts of guitar feedback, before the beat disintegrates and only a mass of circulating noise remains to resound in one corner.
Tony Cadena AKA Tony Reflex AKA Tony Montana, has fronted the Adolescents and Adz for 25 years (on and off) and it's great to hear these new tracks. This current Adolscents grouping includes three originals and some interesting additions. The band now consists of Tony on vocals, Steve Soto on bass, Frank Agnew on guitar, his son Frank Jr. on second guitar, and former Social Distortion drummer Derek O'Brien for the beat. Just as the Adolescents' first tunes give the listener a look into the life and lingo of California culture in 1980, new songs are fitting for 2005. "Pointless Teenage Anthem" questions the repackaging of old-school "good ol' days" for fun and profit, while "Hawks and Doves" targets the twisted language of our wealth-draining, warmongering politicians and media minions who make out opponents of war as bird-brained "doves."
If anyone in the world is pissed, it is singer Richie Verdugo. From the moment he loogies in your face, you know you're in for some harsh criticism, Richie Verdugo-style. Although he's often joined by the sympathetic chorus of the Death Kids, Richie Verdugo's voice is pretty overpowering at all times. At one point in history, it was very popular to
have one-word titles but this band throws that coolness convention
out the window, with several 10+ word song titles. I would not compare
this record to Basement Records' other big band Bullet Treatment.
The production on Bullet Treatment's records sounds much more primal
with hardcore fuzz, while Grave for the Fireflies' production
is top-quality and modern. The sound is heavy, the songs are short
bursts of anger, some high speed, others more "post-hardcore."
I don't read many Skratch Magazine interviews but I read one with Hognose and it was funny as heck. Apparently, they finally settled on Hognose as the name of the band, because all the other good names they thought of while brainstorming, (names like 'Pink Floyd' and 'Led Zeppelin') were already taken. From the start of Weedbilly, you can tell this disc will be full of blues-based distorto-rock riffs. Some of this tuneage is instrumental punk rock exercises with a lot of Black Sabbath / Aerosmith guitar rock influence and a number of cowbells. The singer sounds like any distant amplified screamer. If you're one who never wants the song to end, Hognose likes to jam out on a riff, have an extended guitar solo, then jam out more on it so that seven minutes later, you really know the riff by heart.
This album was origianlly released in 1994 but has been out of print for a long time. New school punkers such as Hot Water Music, Avail, and Anti-Flag all cite Inquisition as a big influence/ favorite. Ex-singer Thomas Barnett, now of Strike Anywhere, helped get this album available again to the desirous public. The bass is very tinny on this recording. The bass mini-melodies are almost always upfront with the sometimes-melodic screamer-vocalist, and the guitar's metalized punk. The guitar has a lot of palm muting as it builds up, sometimes ringing arpeggios, before getting to the heart of most songs, straight power chords at full volume. The song "Uproar" has an exciting chorus, and the singer is uncompromising in his atheism in "Doubting Thomas," with "No religion, my mind will stay my own … religion." From their heavy tunes to their acoustic simmer-downs, you can hear a lot of parallels between Inquisition's sound and the "punk rock" sound/look that is used today in television niche marketing ten years later.
With the War on Terror now unleashed for more than four years, and with four singles under their belt, it was clear a compilation CD containing all 25 tracks plus one unreleased cover, all on one disc, was in order for Weaving the Deathbag. This music is not for the softcore, and may be the hardest stuff Green Bay, Wis. has to to offer. Though it takes Mike Z's furious vocals and guitar, and Mike O's thumping bass, it really is the ticking and kicking timebomb, Nick Bomb on skins, who stars. If speed is what you need, then try the all-fast, all-the-time approach of Nicky B. How does he have time to kick-drum if he's hitting the snare beat by the second?
The Inoculators is a band of FOUR guys but the vision of ONE man, singer / guitarist / songwriter Murphy Lynch. You've got to read the lyrics' funny, straightforward opinion messagesto understand the Inoculators. So let's touch on the highlights of the record. "La La Land" is supposed to be catchy and begins with a riff that reminds me of the Pixies. Track two introduces the ska element and the sense of humor with "Let Me In" about a girl who unfortunately only wants to be his "friend." "Shape up or Ship out" reveals the big boss man in Murphy, before "Romance the Dead" follows with a good hook bringing the record back on track for the very serious song about the unfair double standard for weed smokers compared with permitted addictions to beer, lattés, cigarettes, and Xanex. "Moped" starts well (nice metal) but the chorus sounds like something I've already heard. "That Could be Me" is a great punk song. "Two Party System's Fucked Up" says it all: "See 'em lying, shifty politicians -- it happens every single day -- but no one calls 'em out 'cause everybody does it."
Singer Sarah Mucho's powerful tones are refined and unusual and add a polish to the whole band's sound. System Noise itself is well-rehearsed, employing scales from outer space, with each guitar note picked intentionally and each drum fill matched to the guitar. Pay special attention to what could be the band's music video breakthrough, the final track on this disc, "Unresolved." The song rocks out at the start while Sarah Mucho sings one very loud long note. The band then breaks it down with serious delay effects on the guitar and the bass and drums build back to a rock finale to remember.
According to the singer/guitarist who works at Captain Ed's Smoke Shop in Reseda, 11 Penny Life is a ska band, but they like punk. This band makes you happy even if they're singing, "Can't live w'thout youuu, wo-oh-ah!"The guitar and bass and intermittent horn harmonies are all arranged really well, and the singer has that "Green Day" sound that can only be pleasant. These guys can play, no problem. Half of the tracks are instrumental with the rock part of the band providing support for the horn players to conduct the song's melody.
Maybe it's just a hunch, or my access to an all-knowing crystal ball, but I see big things on the horizon for Magnets for Bad Energy: a two-page spread in Filter Magazine, a packed Friday night gig at Amoeba Records, and the potential to headline an episode of MTV's 120 Minutes very soon. Still, they haven't earned the ear nor adulation of alt-rock rainmaker Matt Pinfield, a top VJ on the show. But even if MFBE (as they prefer to be called in business correspondence) never gets to appear on 120 Minutes, even if Matt Pinfield never digs their vibe, nothing is going to stop them. This band really has some fist-pumping frog-stomping riffs to help you get jiggy wit it and "Blonde to Black" really may make you wanna dye. This is loud pop-rock with an excellent opening riff with climbing Chuck Berry blues bends over the rock, and then a tale of a sexual indiscretion that now threatens to sully the lead singer's fine reputation. This is clearly a song aimed at one person, but instead shared with the whole world. The male singer (there's also a female who appears to complement) does not deny being a slut, but is he an asshole? ---- Reader Comments No Comments. |
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