Reviews of the latest punk/hardcore/screamo/emo CDs in 50 words or less from Chad Bowar.
Scoring
95-100: One of the best albums of the year (A+)
90-94: A (excellent)
80-89: B (good)
70-79: C (average)
60-69: D (disappointing or below average)
59 and below: F (sucks!)
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This is how punk used to be: raw, political and intense. Old school punkers MDC return with a dose of hard hitting hardcore punk. Their songs are full of political and social commentary and dark humor along with the fast melodic music. They're not afraid to speak their minds, and that's what punk's all about.
posted by Chad Bowar @ 12:38 PM
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The prolific Boston punkers dip into the archives yet again with a collection of b-sides, cover songs and compilation tracks from the second half of their career. It's appropriate that Shane McGowan appears on "Wild River", since the Dropkick Murphys' style of Celtic punk is influenced by the Pogues.
posted by Chad Bowar @ 4:01 PM
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Buzzov-en were a North Carolina sludge punk band with a penchant for out of control live shows. Their last album was in 2001, and Alternative Tentacles has gathered some of their early releases for this retrospective. Their early stuff has a lot of influences, from punk to crust to noise rock to metal to hardcore.
posted by Chad Bowar @ 3:58 PM
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This is exactly what an '80s punk album should sound like. The sound quality is horrible, and even the studio tracks sound like they were done in one take. That's not a criticism. The Adolescents were an angry and intense band, and the songs on this album are raw and played at warp speed.
posted by Chad Bowar @ 3:56 PM
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Bowar is a freelance music writer and the heavy metal editor for About.com, a New York Times company. He has written for Outburn, Amp, Loud Fast Rules, Caustic Truths, Snaggletooth, Explicity Intense and many other print and online publications.
