Civil War Rust is a Bay Area four-piece that plays a melodic and gritty style of punk that they describe as "punk rock & roll". I couldn't agree more. This is not pop-punk, post-hardcore or any of the other labels we like to slap on our music. It would sound just as at home on Long Island or Chicago's north side as it does in San Fransisco. This is Civil War Rust, and this is their latest EP, The Good Book.

Three songs spanning a dozen minutes; that's all you get with this one. Remember that thing your mom told you when you were eight about quality vs. quantity? Good, so like me, you'd rather listen to three good songs than 10 shitty ones. Each one presented on The Good Book delivers and the EP as a whole makes it clear that they know how to make good music and showcases the band's ability to switch things up from one track to the next.

Not that it's hard to screw up the tracking on a three-song album, I'll still point out that it was done correctly here, starting with the opener "Mayday." Driving guitar work and a distinctive bassline pave the way for the raspy howl of frontman Ryan Banks. It's a catchy and well-paced track that does it's job; it introduces the band and their sound and gives you a good idea of what to expect. The middle frame of the EP, titled "Freight Train," continues the trend of making the bass heard, which is one of the things I enjoyed most about this album, as it's present all the way through. It also brings some of the best whoahs I've heard in awhile. Stir that up with another solid melody, quick tempo and lyrics about drinkin' and not being able to get stuff right and this EP is two for two. The final track, "Bright Eyes," slows things down and is a great song to end on. It may not be the catchiest, but it is the most well-written song of the three. It's different than the previous two, but not too different.

There is an enormous amount of potential in these three songs and I'm interested to see what Civil War Rust brings to the table when their debut full-length is released in early 2012. Head on over to the Death To False Hope's site and you can download The Good Book for free.