Emily's Army - Don't Be A Dick
Adeline Records

This is soooooo cute! A bunch of teenage Punx chock full of Boredom and Contempt and Sarcastic Commentary for everything they see write an albums worth of material that is just the Pop Punkiest cutest stuff ever!! hahahaha Brilliance! I listen to this stuff and my teeth hurt, because it is soooooooo sugary sweet! hahahaha It's well recorded as shit, and some of the songs are really good, like Strictly For The Birds, Ho Lloween and Broadcast This. The singer for this band reminds me a bit of the guy from Material Issue, and his singing style really seems to work with what the band are playing. Let me correct that - Man, he sounds a LOT like that guy from Material Issue... LOL Bass player is solid, nothing too fancy, and the drummer is spazztastic and bright and inventive. Pretty cool stuff he's playing, considering his age. Overall this is a pretty good CD. Check it out if Pop Punk is your thing. You'll probably like it. Now I know what you're asking yourself - why am I reviewing this band? Well, because the rummer for this band is the 16 year old kid of Billy Joe from Green Day. Yup! hahahahaha Gawd I feel old. Someone kill me now please.

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Roswell / RCA Records

Well, it's better than their last POS record, that's for sure! LOL The Foo Fighters return with a record that was more hyped up about the whole Analog recording process than about the actual quality of the songs recorded, and after listening to this a few times I can see why. The band has reached a level of arena rock mediocrity that's actually a bit scary to see. Long gone are the urgency and bombast of earlier releases, replaced with cliche's and stereotypes with interesting slants, perfectly tailored to fit in with some rad pyrotechnic work or to encourage an audience of sheep to clap along during the drum solo or guitar solo. Phooey. What happened to these guys? They used to be good, I swear! LOL As usual, the recording quality and sound of this is superb, but that was never really the problem, now was it? No, it was the general suckiness of the quality of songs found on their last 2 releases, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and In Your Honor, that made me kind of give up on the Foo Fighters ever being good again. Sure, there's moments of brilliance found on here, like Rope, or Bridges Burning, but as for the rest? All Filler No Killer. A lot of this stuff sounds like Queens Of The Stone Age toss offs and discards, but that could just be me, I dunno. The much ballyhooed event of Kris Novaselic playing with Dave Grohl on the song I Should Have Known is a major bore fest too. Gawd I could go on and on but what's the point? This new album by the Foo Fighters sucks and that's all there is to it. MAJOR disappointment.

Deadhand - Self-Titled
Self Released

I have to preface this by saying that I listened to this band working on this material A LOT when we shared rehearsal space, so I already know just how fucking amazing it is, but to hear the finished product, so perfectly captured and mixed and packed chock full of sonic fury and tiny little musical flourishes and dramatic overtures, well, it's just Life affirming, ya know? This is easily the Best Local CD to be released this year, and maybe even in the year before this and the year after this. Yeah, it's that fucking good. I cannot stop listening to this CD. I'm obsessed with it, like I was when I discovered Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True, or Squeeze's Argy Bargy. Every song on here is just so well put together, so catchy, so absolutely mind blowing in it's musical brilliance, that I cannot stress enough just how sensational this debut release from Deadhand is. Words fail me. My tongue lacks the words. Brain is useless. Just listen to the songs yourself and see. The whomp-whomp-whomp of Sheep, the start-stop sloganeering of Taste, with that fantastic hook of "I'm always looking over my shoulder", the Beauty and Anger of Set My Sights To Kill, the cry tears in your beer mournful break up of Singing For You, or the absolutely breathtakingly beautiful Places (Love Can Go), it's all here - songs for every occasion that will become an Essential part of your Life. Seriously. This release from Deadhand is one of the best things I've ever heard in my Life, and that's saying A LOT. Absolutely crucially essential listening here.

Christian Death - Only Theater Of Pain 30th Anniversary Addition
Frontier Records

What am I going to tell you about this seminal release from Christian Death that you don't already know? It's Majesty. It's Beauty. It's Art. It's Poetry immersed in Sound & Fury. It's a Musical masterpiece that will change your Life forever after hearing it once, and the kind folks over at Frontier records have given it the ol' once over for this 30th Anniversary release and it looks and sounds great, from what I've been told. I don't own a record player so I couldn't tell you, but as far as CD's go, the new version sounds waaaaaaayyy better than the old version I got many, many moons ago, and that's because it's been remixed, remastered, and now reissued on sexy as fuck purple 180 gram vinyl. NICE! I've probably bought this album over 10 times in my miserable existence, and besides the purple vinyl, the hook for me in buying this again is that the vinyl comes with a bonus 7" that contains 2 never before released tracks, The Lord's Prayer and an alternate version of Cavity - First Communion. The CD has the Deathwish EP on it, as it always has, as well as the cuts from the Hell Comes To Your House compilation. Anyways, if you're into this whole reissue - remix thing going on in Punk nowadays, or for some reason you don't already own this then pick it up. It's fucking Orgasmic.

Unfair Fight - A Constant Struggle
45 Records

WOW!! If I have one complaint about this CD it would be that it's too fucking short!! hahaha Clocking in at about 25 minutes, this fucking Tsunami of a release from Unfair Fight is just not enough - I need more, dammit! More of the amazing drum work of Mr. Pete, who's 8 bar introduction sets off the first song of this release, Laughter Is The Best Medicine. What a song too. Damn! Pete is a drum bashing Monster!!! hahaha I need More of Chris' skull shredding guitar work. His guitar tone is thick, crunchy and sweet - like a PB & J sandwich! More of Brett's thunderous bass playing. And, of course, more and more of Dan's absolutely BRUTAL Vokill work, which is just heart pounding in it's Intensity. Gawd damn this release just fucking KILLS!!! It sounds AMAZING, and the songs on here are just all over the place, starting one way, then turning another in the blink of an eye, with each direction more intense than the one before it. Soooooooo fucking good. Songs like Overcome Your Fears, Come Back Swinging, This Is My Release, or It's Your Choice, all perfectly illustrate the musical skills these guys got, which are plentiful. Just phenomenal stuff here. I'm not even going to do it the injustice of even trying to compare it to anything else that has come beforehand, because it's nothing like them. This stuff is Original. It came about Organically, and it's Beautiful in it's Violence. It's Punk Rock musical complexity at a break neck pace with a taste for blood. It's Unfair Fight's debut release, A Constant Struggle, and if you don't own this already then you're an idiot. Thanks for the Picture credits and the shout out guys! And what's the name of that 2nd secret song on the end of the CD, dammit? hahahaha

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You
Warner Bros. Records

Gawd this is Horrible! Avoid at all costs. Bring back John Frusciante!! Go back under the bridge downtown and do drugs again and start writing music that's good. Phooey.

Powerwolves - You Won't Find Peace
Panic Records

Ya know, there's just something cool about a great Punk Rock record. It starts out with some catchy melody, you're feeling it, and then the rest of the band jumps in, then you're into it, and then it all comes crashing and thrashing apart and then you're hooked. That's exactly what happened to me when I started listening to this latest release from Boston's own Powerwolves. Thick, distorted guitars with a Metal edge, throat shredding vocals, hard hitting drums and a wall shaking bass sound, playing some catchy as fuck Punk Rock tunes that had me Googling these guys to see what the fuck I was missing out on here, and I couldn't find shit. I think this is their first full length release, but I don't know. What I do know is that I like it. This stuff rocks! Standout songs include My Eyes Are Open, Behind This Face, Night Of The Long Fangs and the title of the CD, You Won't Find Peace. This is some fantastic Punk Rock tuneage here. Powerwolves... great band!

Naked City Romeos - Naked City Romeos
Wood Shampoo Records

Gawd Damn this is good! Frighteningly good! Dirty, Sleazy, Cartoonish like Punk Rock songs that are catchy like AIDS and just as quickly spread among the masses. It's got the Swagger and Sexiness of the New York Dolls, beefed up with some Dictators Attitude, all set about to the Damned's musical sensibilities. This CD sounds fantastic too - well recorded, and the guitars and drums are LOUD - just how I like them! ;-) Anyways, this band is comprised of some Old School veteranos that know what good Punk Rock music is all about, and they got together and wrote this collection of fantastic tunes to remind people that real Punk Rock isn't dead, but that it's just gone back to the underground where it belongs. Naked City Romeos sing about the lighter side of things, with subjects like Transsexuals, X Ray Vision, Girls in Bands, Rock N Roll Hair, T.V. Addicts, all skewered through the cynical, venomous viewpoint of Mr. Vermin & Co. The music sounds like anything you'd hear on any Vermin album, but it's the vocals by Eric that make all the difference. The dude can fucking sing, and his delivery and attitude on these songs is beautiful. Standout tracks include Church Girls Are Easy,  I'm Me, Kill The Rat, Just Enough and their absolutely stunning version of Bowie's Cracked Actor. Dare I say that they do it better than the original? Yeah I do! This is just a fantastic release that is much appreciated in today's so called Punk Rock music scene. We need more Bands like this, dammit! :-) Do yourself a favor and pick this up. You won't be disappointed. The Naked City Romeos nailed it with this release. Great stuff.