Tweet Tweet My Lovely

It's almost maddening. Remember when U.S. bands made the best hardcore and thrash? Somehow, circa 1984 or so, the scene swallowed itself, and everyone started playing (badly) at the speed of sound, bereft of talent, imagination, or songwriting. You can probably count on two hands the truly magnificent punk bands America produced since (mostly by old holdovers from the prime early '80s, like the Descendents/All and Bad Religion). It's the British who took the once-vital genre and pumped new gas in it (something they needed to do in their own isles too, after their equally pathetic excesses of dumbed-down Oi!), making it sound like a new machine. Snuff split up for a while earlier in the '90s, and while they were kaput, their drummer sneaked into (and improved) the hottest punk powerhouse of the decade, Leatherface. Between these two friends, plus the ferocious and fresh China Drum and the passionate Jesse (and how one wishes Drive still drove), England beat America badly, like laser printers compared to dot matrix. Tweet Tweet is a killer, and just try to stop singing along with "Thief" (trombones and all) and "Take Me Home (Piss Off)" when you bring this sucker home! More importantly, while Snuff was an extremely inconsistent band in its infancy, they've cured themselves of that lone (serious) blemish. Even when they break into hackneyed breakneck thrash like on the opening "No Reason" and "Verdidn't," they keep serious riffs and melodies coming. Best of all, their playing is now so much hotter, louder, tighter, more compact-powerful, and out-of-their-shoes explosive. Ya! Maybe the Brits have Americans because they know how to produce records and stateside kids just don't have the dough. Seriously, this disc jumps right off the laser the way the 1978 Ramones, 1978 Clash, 1979 SLF, 1981 Minor Threat, or 1982 Zero Boys records did. But that's not all: Snuff has ability, humor, throaty vocals, and nine different tempos to work in, as well as the occasional nutty brass and pretty '60s organ. In three words, Tweet Tweet kicks ass, and unlike everyone else these days, Snuff don't make you feel stupid, juvenile, myopic, stupid, teenaged, nostalgic, conservative, or witless while doing it. This smokes.