Jerk City

Jerk City [7-inch] (2008)

Brian Shultz

Jerk City include ex-members of Indecision, the Banner and Shattered Realm but definitely stray from the hardcore styles done by any of these bands--their self-titled 7" is a six-song slab of straightforward melodic hardcore firmly on the Kid Dynamite/Avail tip.

Though this 7" is now a year-and-half old, it really could have come out at any point in the last decade. "Fuckbox" is a hard-nosed opener, while "900 Nuns" opens with a totally ripping solo that seems lifted from a Bigwig record (and the band's deep, throaty vocals probably help cement that comparison a bit, too). That latter song has one of the more invigorating flows and melodic changes, too, becoming a more dynamic and enlivened track amongst the bunch. "Bleed" opens up sorta like KD's "3 O'Clock."

I know The Machine Shop usually doesn't do melodic punk/hardcore records, but they give this a tidy, sometimes appropriately bulky recording that fits what Jerk City do well.

Not a bad effort at all.

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Jerk City 7"