Various

The War On Terrorism (2003)

Jesse Raub

This record made me remember what we all really need: more shitty political punk bands. This record delivers it. It has four tracks: Caulfield, Mumbler, The Gibbons, and Megan Kott.

Caulfield's contribution to this album made me smile. It has been so long since I've been lost in my pretentiousness that I had forgotten how truly enjoyable shitty punk is. This track, "Stolen Voices," reminds me of a less technical NOFX. Straight up, fast, in your face punk with borderline tongue-in-cheek lyrics. "Our voices have been stolen/just like a rigged election." Genius.

Mumbler impressed me a lot more compared to their 6 song release I had just reviewed ten minutes earlier. On this track they demonstrate a varied style of shitty punk. First off, it's a slightly slower temp, and second, they utilize the beauty of the rest. A band has finally matured when they realize that silence is just as important to a song as power chords. The song is called "They Hate Our Freedom," which basically tells you what the lyrics are going to be just from the title. Such gems as "This is going to be a record fiscal year/Propelled by this climate of fear" and "Can't touch the likes of Chomsky or Zinn/Because garbage like that gets you labeled Un-American."

The Gibbons went overboard on this one. They used a 3/4 intro/breakdown. This is almost a no-no for shitty punk. But they pull it off well. Really well. This is probably the best written song musically on the album, and the vocals are snotty enough to make lyrics like "Were you proud as the tanks rolled in?/Like there was any doubt over who would win/Congratulations boys, another country's sage/For TNCS and free trade" sound like audio butter: delicious and fattening.

The last track is by a girl named Megan Kott. It's a drum-less electric guitar and bass jam, featuring some of the tastiest girl vocals I've heard in punk music. Not only are they gritty and fierce, but you can definitely sense a real pool of talent and a hint of sweetness in her voice. My favorite line of the song would have to be "Cause I'm coming to get the tell all biography/Retitled from 'A Lifetime of Hiding Behind Bushes'/To 'I've Got My own Throne Now, So Don't Fuck With Us.'"

Although this brings me back to the glory days of punk and politics when bands like Screeching Weasel and NoFX dominated my airwaves, I still have to say that no matter how you look at it, it's still shitty punk. And that, my friends, is truly the bottom line for this review.