Automatic 7

Rock 'em, sock 'em punk rock always has a place when it's got the hooks, and hot guitar lines that So-Cal bands have been famous for since, oh, The Adolescents, Mommy's Little Monster, Milo Goes to College, and How Could Hell Be Any Worse? Recorded at the now legendary West Beach Recorders, and flawlessly mixed by THOM WILSON (the man responsible for so many of the those great early '80s L.A. punk LPs), this L.A. four have got the sound, the hyped-up moxie, the tunes, and the lyrics to make this stuff sound brand new, even when the guitars seem particularly nostalgic for the Adolescents' Agnew brothers. Each song is zippy, fast (but never thrash), and really well-played (nice surging, balls-out style), and JOHN HULETT's super-tuneful, forceful snarl keeps one reaching for this disc. All ten cuts could have been singles, even an oddly chosen but roaring cover of SOUL ASYLUM's "Closer to the Stars," thanks to the pile-driving harmonies on the choruses. Why do people go so ape-s**t over Rancid, OK as they are (and their ska "Time Bomb" is great), when bands like these blow them out of the water for playing and material and most of all, talent? And are there any more more consistent punk labels in the world than B.Y.O. and Epitaph? And they've both been doing it for fifteen years. Not exactly jumping on the bandwagon!