Pit Bull Daycare -wt Unclean -wl Cleopatra -wf Hard. Heavy. Relentless. Undanceable, and proud of it. All these adjectives summarize this five-piece Texan band with one of those inspired names that keeps punk alive, no matter where the music itself wanders. The path this band takes is a dark and gothic one, with the hard-edged riffs of the first two cuts “Slam” and “Why Do I” leading into the massive, ponderous cut “Spoon.” Somehow, this is evocative of later Alice Cooper or Ozzy Osbourne, where stardom and cleverness have left the performer empty, disillusioned and ready to explore his own private world, at whatever cost to the listening public. Doom and gloom carry the album on like soldiers trudging in the rain until “Not Fair,” at which point we hear a classic teenage lament: “Life’s not fair.” We all know the stock answer, but that in no way diminishes the visceral impact of the complaint. -wm All this is fine. The metal head, the disaffected youth and the anarchist who takes great pains to get a nice, round circle centered on that “A” he spray paints in the alley behind the dry cleaners, will all accept this record in the spirit it’s offered. Those more interested in the easy listening side of goth or metal might not be able to stand this, and one certainly needs to be in a correct frame of mind, even for the metalized R.E.M. cover “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” The song is located at the end of the record, so they get that one microscopic bit of irony correct. But Pit Bull Daycare isn’t about irony – this band is about the sonic assault, the wall of sound and a grim world with no real solution except to grow up, get a day job and accept things as they are. But by god, they are NOT happy about the situation. -wd Cleopatra Records: http://www.cleorecords.com/ -wb Carl F Gauze