Action 45 - All The Rage

Well check these dudes out. A nice, poppy Punk Rock and Roll band from the O.C. What a novelty, huh? Yeah. So I bought this CD after seeing the band perform @ the Rock Room (now Crazy Horse III) in the Penthouse Club, and now that I've been listening to it for a while I gotta say it's pretty good. Not great, but good. Music is tight, the guitar player can fucking shred, and is probably the 'Star' of the band. Not that the other guys in the band are slouches at what they do, it's just that the guitarist is that good. But alas, what keeps Action 45 from being great and maybe standing out a bit from the already over-crowded scene of people doing the exact same thing that they are is the singer. He's generic, and sounds like someone more comfortable fronting an Alternative band that a nice Punk-Pop Rock combo. His baritone vocal styling sounds like everything else out there, like the guy who took vocal lessons to learn how to sing, and it reminds me waaaay too much of bands like the Generators, or Damnation, who I've always considered "plastique". Phooey. There are a couple of really good songs on here, like High Life, about the bands borderline obsession with Miller beer, and Suicide Crossing, which rides the Ministry Stigmata riff a little too closely for it's own good. She Said and Tender Ties are good too, and are all songs that are considerably faster than anything else on this CD, so maybe that's why I dig those tunes, who knows. Anyways, there are far worse choices one could make than checking out this Action 45 release. Who knows? You may even enjoy it! Available from the bands website by clicking here.

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