Just a Liability

A southern California hardcore revival band featuring key members of late-'90s O.C. punks Final Conflict (not, of course, the British prog metal group from the '80s), 46 Short offer a dead-on recreation of the southern California punk ethos of the early '80s. Strong echoes of the Adolescents, Agent Orange, Black Flag and Suicidal Tendencies are all over their 14-track (plus one pointless bonus track that mostly consists of someone's nasty wet hacking cough) debut. Singer Jeremy Jones has the same sort of sneering deadpan as the Circle Jerks' Keith Morris, but his lyrics lack that band's juvenile but entertaining sense of humor. Similarly, 46 Short attack these two-minute blasts of hardcore with plenty of energy, but little creativity, leading to songs that blur into each other listlessly, only occasionally producing a memorable riff or the sort of chorus that demands fist-in-the-air shoutalongs. The pile-driving "1 in 25" is by far the best of the bunch, but sadly, it's only one in 14. The rest of the album fails to live up to that song's promise.