Rubrics

What is the World Without Rubble? (2015)

Mark613

Greenville, South Carolina’s Rubrics play speedy, bash n’ crash punk with their feet firmly planted in the do-it-yourself approach to the music industry. I first heard the band when they were played on the Punknews Podcast and I got the chance to check them out live a few months later where I picked up copies of some of their previous releases, most notably their 2013 split 7-inch with Abolitionist that I found really brought some nice melodies at a breakneck pace.

What is the World Without Rubble? starts off incredibly strong with the opening track of “Styrofoam, Dish Soap and Gasoline” that rips and rattles along as the band blends in some nice harmonies and male/female vocal trade-offs between guitarist Ryan Talty-Santangelo and bassist Kerri-Beth Santangelo. However, I find when I reach the middle portion of the record these harmonies are less frequent as the band dabbles in more of a d-beat vocal delivery that doesn’t capture my ear the same way. Things pick-up again by the end with “Dita Sari” and “Weight of the World” bringing some fast melodies back into the mix. Another strength of the album is that all of the songs are fairly short; 15 tracks are clocking in around 25 minutes here which is great for those with a short musical attention span.

Overall while I enjoy what Rubrics is doing on this album, I think they could do it even better next time around if more emphasis is placed on the melodies. This is a solid effort by a solid band that is carrying the torch of DIY punk in today’s current landscape of mega-sized festivals and legacy reunion acts.

You can check out the album here.