Amen

We Have Come For Your Parents (2000)

Brandon Sideleau

When I bought the "Rise Above" album last year out of all the great tracks, one stood out even more than the others- "Depression" by Casey Chaos. So, with that, I discovered his band, Amen. Amen are a hardcore punk rock band with slight political leanings, their sound is best described as lyrically a mix between the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, musically very heavy and mid tempo, and Casey Chao's vocals land somewhere in between Johnny Rotten and Henry Rollins….that is to say that they have that Rotten snarl, but mixed Rollins-esque screams.

Now, onto the album, "We Have Come for Your Parents" was the band's sophmore album, their first under a major label and their first with producer Ross Robinson (I know, don't freak out). I don't know how this album got released on Virgin, it is quite possibly one of the most angry, violent and frenetic albums released in the past ten years. The songs mostly deal with religous hypocrisy (Justified, Dead On The Bible), resistance (Refuse Amen), American ignorance (Mayday). The band is crushingly powerful and Casey has a voice that takes no prisoners. For example, on songs like "Justified" the tempo just gets more and more intense up to a point where the rage just explodes into a screaming fit, similar to Henry Rollins on "My War", but not quite as much. The band even ventures into catchier territory with the song "The Waiting", which features a catchy chorus and doesn't lose the album's intensity at all.

Overall I think this album was quite possibly one of the most overlooked albums of the past few years. If you are interested, you can download a shit load of stuff at their ftp site, which is located on their website. They are taking part in a "Refuse Music" campaign and have posted dozens of live videos, live recordings, demos, and songs from their first album on this ftp site. They have since this album left Virgin and remain unsigned. I have seen some of their live videos and Casey is a very physical singer, although I don't agree with his hatred of rap. Get this album if you like Black Flag, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, etc. etc. Great stuff.