Believe it or not my friends, true punk is alive and well. Far, far away from your Hot Topics, from your concert halls, faux hawks, and $20 t-shirts, there still exists bands with honest ethics and an honest sound. Few and far between they might be, but that just makes the records these bands put out all the more meaningful.

A Global Threat's latest foray into that `80s hardcore punk ethos is Where the Sun Never Sets -- eighteen songs dripping with urgency and political resolve, eighteen songs that hit hard, fast, and often. Eighteen songs full of snarling, honest lyrics, and heavily distorted riffs. Clocking in at little more than half an hour, this is an album long on attitude and short on bullshit, and though they've gone through their fair amount of lineup alterations since the band's inception in 2000, this current incarnation is as cohesive and pissed off as ever before.

The band's vocalist anchors the sonic attack, though as time wears on it becomes obvious that he's a rather formidable threat on the six-string. "Not a Dime to Drop" transitions nicely from some hard-hitting riffs to some terrific, albeit short-lived soloing. It's important, though, that the band can provide that variation that so many punk records fail to add to the four-chord repetitions.

A possible downfall the record does face, however, is that out of the sixteen presented, not very many songs stick above the rest. They're all good in their own right, but nothing jumps out and makes you say, "man I need to throw on that Global Threat record, I haven't heard 'Some Nerve' in ages!" At the same time, I'd wager that many fans of punk won't find that to be a problem at all. They'll be content with the fact that there's no weak spots on the record. The spunky vocals, pounding fills, and thick bass bridges are just as prevalent in the first song as the sixteenth, and the socially conscious lyrical content is really able to seep into the fabric of each and every song.

One man's simplicity is another man's grandeur, and with the market so populated with here today, punchline tomorrow fashion-centric punk bands, this new Global Threat album is sure to appease those who value grit and sincerity above all else.