Revolution

On their debut album's cover, Erie, PA's Struck Down are seen walking out of a stylized Japanese rising sun, their guitars slung purposefully over their shoulders like soldiers on the march, their apparent mission: to carry out the given title of Revolution. These impressions are quickly confirmed by the traditional, straight-edge hardcore songs heard within, preaching messages of understanding ("Humanity"), individuality ("Action"), almost excessively goody-two-shoes self-improvement ("Education"), and all-around positive, take-charge attitudes. The problem with this rampant militancy — at times reduced to monotonous sloganeering on "Your Disease" (which repeats "Your apathy makes me sick!" ad nausea) and "Revive Unite" — is that simple fun inevitably gets dumped by the roadside. Were it not for sporadic examples of comedic intent such as the Flavor Flav-like cry of "yeeaaaah boooyy" introducing "Moshpit," or the utterly goofy "Tom Welch Is the Living Dead," Struck Down would feel like attending military school. And since, musically, the band's punchy, powerful, purist brand of hardcore is also generally free of major risks or surprises (the harmonica used in "Purity" providing a notable exception), Revolution is likely to impress a few young listeners with its lyrics, but won't in any way revolutionize the hardcore genre.