Ten years ago, Monster Zero Records released their first 12” LP, the killer debut album by Austria’s DeeCracks. To celebrate, the label has decided to re-master and re-release the record with bonus tracks and new artwork. And it’s definitely worth revisiting.

This time around the album kicks off with “The Re-generation”, a short track with few vocals, which makes for a perfect intro track. I’m a fairly new listener when it comes to DeeCracks, but I’ve always loved how the band puts a little edge to their version of pop-punk and the second track, “I Wanted It All”, is a good example of this. The song has a garage rock feel thanks to the high toned guitars mixed with a ‘50s vibe along with raspy vocals that are balanced perfectly with smooth harmonies during the chorus. You hear this style repeated numerous times throughout the whole album. “Gimme Gimme Plastic Surgery” and “Radioactive Kiss” and “I Killed My TV Set” (the 2nd bonus track) are pretty good examples of this as well.

While there is a clear nod to the Ramones (which obviously isn’t any new information here), the band amps up the aggression on songs like “Ritalin For Lunch”, “The Hangover Hop”, and “Ratface”, but strays from the typical Ramones guitar progression slightly on songs like “Not Another Minute”, among others. And the album also pays homage to numerous 2nd generation Ramonescore bands as well. “Dairy Queen King” is a clear nod to The Queers and “Waiting For You” could have very well been written by Joe Queer himself. Also, there are numerous tracks featuring a Screeching Weasel type organ. And “I See You Around” has a slightly different feel than many of the songs with slightly more complex instrumentation and structure, but it reminds me a lot of an Apers tune, which makes it no wonder why Monster Zero loves this band so much.

Ten years later, it’s cool to see how far this band has come without straying from their original sound as evidenced on this re-issue. And while the band isn’t doing anything groundbreaking, their sound remains unique. They’ve blended ‘50s style pop-punk with a little bit of surf rock topped off with a whole lot of grit. This formula worked ten years ago and it still works now.