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Self Titled
Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards |
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I'm getting this feeling from listening to this like I got when I first heard The Ramones' doing "Commando…" pure aggression, the likes of which when you're driving in your car, the foot falls suddenly heavy on the gas pedal and the horn piece on those late model Chevy's succumbs quickly to the incessant pounding received while keeping beat to something that should never be listened to while operating in such conditions where you're liable to become a danger to yourself and those around you… "Dead American" indeed. So here's Rancid's Lars Frederiksen, vocalist, guitarist, atom smasher… Indeed, this is not far off from where Rancid's gone in recent years, featuring as well fellow bandmate Tim Armstrong manning the controls, LF&TB features an upstarts youthful recollections of growing up Punk and discontented visions of conquering the world… or in this case, maybe Campbell, CA. would have been enough! "Dead American" as the first track smokes right out the starting gate and signifies what you expect to hear before you've even heard a word-loud, angry and downright brutal… yes, welcome to Campbell, a friendly place to visit for those who pack their own artillery-now pack your bags and get the hell out! Presented all in good fun of course, the tunes range from rebellion-"Six Foot Five," and the whole get yer goddamned job attitude, to "Army of Zombies" and taking up the fight for… well to be heard I suppose; "Wine and Roses," "Anti-Social…" "10 Plagues of Egypt's" an interesting one built around total annihilation and civic unrest, is a worldwide catastrophe put to three chords and primal scream. The difference between Lars' and Rancid are vague at best as this could have easily have been slapped with the band name and no one would utter a single word of disapproval… or likely be in any condition to know the difference. The subject matter is of a wholly personal nature, not in the "look back on life and regret" angle but from a "it was fun being young and sometimes it sucked but it's cool to think about it" perspective and it makes for a highly emotional, sometimes tense and always loud record that Punk fans will wanna hear but I doubt it might do much for the Campbell, CA. board of tourism. Released by Hellcat Records: http://www.hell-cat.com/ Review by Vinnie Apicella
[va85@columbia.edu] |