Tear It Down

Perhaps things can never be entirely the same after 9/11, but a small clue that things were officially back to normal was the key track from Slapshot's 2005 release Tear It Down. Reigniting a centuries-long slanging match between the two key cities of the northeast corridor, this long-running Boston band gleefully calls out all of the most annoying things about Manhattan in "F**k New York," from Yankees manager Joe Torre to Sex and the City. Aside from that track and the slight, ignorant "Rap Sucks," Tear It Down is one of Slapshot's most serious and politically minded releases, focusing on wartime paranoia in "Spread the Fear" and "Terrorized" and calling the hardcore troops to the battle in "Relight the Fire" and "Hardcore Rules." Leaning less heavily than usual on his normal streetwise snark, singer-lyricist Jack Kelly sounds re-energized throughout, and the band is equally on fire. Unfortunately, an announcement of a likely permanent hiatus followed the release of Tear It Down, putting an end to one of Boston's few remaining touchstones of its glory punk years. The CD contains nearly half-an-hour of enhanced video footage.