The latest installment of the "Fistful…" series sees the resurging rock and roll tradition continuing to gain ground toward yesterday's faded glory and with faded blues and a mean glare as the latest voices of the underground continue their trek down the highway to hell.

First developed a couple years back to stamp the voice of true rock firmly into the deaf ears of a spoiled generation unlucky enough to know what they were missing, the series has grown stronger in time as more and more local and established bands take their aim at an audience that's slowly begun to listen and appreciate all that rock music was and will be again.

Nothing fancy, these collections indeed feature some of the best in unsigned talent, unearthed, seemingly from the grand ole Stooges era with a grinding style of uncompromising rants, raves and sewer-ready rhythms designed to disrupt the ordinaries of mainstream as quickly as they'll pollute the airwaves.

Each collection features 18 tracks embedded by some of today's best and still little known talents merged together for the sole purpose of putting the music back on the map.

For those among the uninitiated, the music's a throwback to the golden eras of rock, of which there were many, but the many combined elements that make up the material offered by each individual band and artist put their own stamps on the pages of history that began way back in the fifties and continued to reinvent itself into the staunch movement it was to become during the late seventies and early eighties before being left for dead in the name of genre specific "progress."

It's nearly impossible to distinguish either of these two collections from the other for their both high in quality and intensity while retaining that old school charm that still causes a stir at the local PTA gatherings some twenty years forward.

"Volume 5" features the likes of The Dwarves who open things up-not so gently, I might add-when they beckon the question "Is There Anybody Out There?" Residing on the Epitaph label of late, theirs was one of the more critical releases of last year, widely hailed as a "must have" for any true Punk fan.

Others like The Go, Upper Crust, and Zen Guerilla have had their own flings with indie success while still remaining as crucial as ever in the context of the continuum.

Numeric order means little on either volume here with little evidence of a weak link in this fraternal chain that remains as solid as ever before. "Volume 6" features the likes of Gluecifer, Sonny Vincent, Turbonegro and Nitwitz, along with several other rash and rowdy upstarts seeking to supplant commercialism and excess by its very roots.

Both feature the usual R-rated cartoon-like cover art with plenty of inside information on the contributing bands and their respective contact ammo… I mean info.

The brain child of fast-ascending king of the underground Sal Canzonieri, the latest series, having reached what must have been thought an improbable six up to this point could easily hit 100 before the smoke clears-and the wonderful thing is it'll never get old… the next installment is already underway!

Released by Tee Pee Records: http://www.teepeerecords.com/

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]