Emocharge? Disemo? D-beat emo?

There are many farcical ways one could attempt to describe Coliseum's debut album, which is a combination of Discharge/GBH early-80's speed-punk hardcore and despairing lyrical diatribes about loneliness and insecurity (touching on huge franchises and those ashamed privileged kids in a couple of songs).

The first song, "Detached," quite blatantly cops its core riff from GBH's "Sick Boy," and "Pretty Situation" eerily resembles "Doomsday" by Discharge, except with more emotional lyrics. Vocalist/guitarist Ryan Patterson is definitely inspired by Cal, with a crustier metal edge in his low-mixed shouting. Of course, they do change it up a little. "Give Up And Drive" contains what could be called the album's only "breakdown" (a ramshackle and chaotic stomp), and the guitars in "Claim Control" play off of each other in an elementary, yet affective way.

That's what I find to be the beauty of Coliseum. The music is simple, yet powerful. Songs open and close with a wail of feedback from an amp. This band does what they do well, and leave the pose to the math-metal hacks.

This is what the average hardcore album should be. Combining this solid of a sound with a stunning live show, Coliseum are destined to go places in the (mothafuckin') underground, and are an interesting alternative to the other wave of American hardcore "revivalists," who seem to get way too caught up in their early-90's East Coast crap.