Teenage Rehab play the same brand of old-school fueled, dirty, fast, throaty, grungy skate punk rock that our forefathers perhaps would've liked to see duplicated in the hundreds column. Either way, the punk veterans' newest effort uses plenty of distorted guitar and quick, first-listen anthems with few forays into slower territory (save for a midtempo romp like "The Animal Inside (You Better Go)"). All of these songs clock in at less than three minutes apiece on the fifteen-track album. Upon initial listen it's likely you'll already be singing the chorus of More Than A Job's proper first song, "Medication:" "I need some medication / Medication! / I need some therapy." The major, major problem is that it comes off sounding more like silly revivalism than dedication to the past, even if that's not what they're aiming for. Whereas someone like The Exploding Hearts could make music so recent sound almost thirty years old and completely infectious at the same time, Teenage Rehab makes recent music that's only trying to sound twenty years old, and it's just not completely together. There are traces of fine-tuned nods, like the pseudo, echoing solo near the end of "Elbow Room," but they're few and far between. I understand the band was born on the cusp end of their main sound, and I'm not familiar with any of their earlier material, but this particular full-length is really put forth with nothing new nor a sense of real interest. As vague and mundane as these complaints sound, it's only a reflection of how vague and mundane this album is, which is odd for three-chord punk rock. It's not horrible by any means, but maybe a lack of more energetic power and any other aforesaid offerings are what really hurts it. MP3
Medication