The Forgotten
Control Me
BYO
This is pretty much what you’d expect when seeing the front cover: four punkers in their thirties, one mohawked, one with receding hairline, leather coats, and skulls on T-shirts. The songs are about being a “throwback,” making fun of kids who aren’t as punk as the guys in this band were in their prime, and Gilman St. There’s lots of pick slides, f-words, and even some handclaps? Yawn.
So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up the liner notes to see a picture of the band behind the lyrics, and one of the band members was giving me the middle finger! Yikes! I’ve never seen a crusty punk band picture with one of the members giving me the middle finger. Needless to say, I was appalled!
So anyway, I actually did like the group vocal chants on Control Me. I usually hate them with a passion, but these guys are really good at it, and their chants come off really well. I also like the guitars on this one. They are very crisp and well done. They bite when they need to bite, chugga chugga quite properly, and really just rock out!
Sadly, this CD is just tired old street punk stuff; there’s nothing new here! All of the songs sounds similar, and there’s twelve of them! This could be a really strong five-song EP, but there’s just a bunch of corny filler. I think that The Forgotten should concentrate less on trying to be tough guys, and look to expand on why it is that they started a band to begin with. If these guys could let go of the past and move on with their music, they might actually be decent. Who sings about “Social Security,” anyway? Gag me.
The Forgotten: http://www.theforgotten.net
