The Horror
Insobriety & Insubordination
Signal Path Records
Boy, when I took this one out of the box from Ink19 Central, I was sure that it would drip with death metal riffage, brooding carnage and otherwise dastardly shenanigans. The cover is completely black, with “The Horror” written in a scary grey font. Sadly, The Horror is not a metal band, and their music is not terrifying. However, they do play testosterone-fueled, anthemic fist-in-the-air punk rock, similar in tone to early Jawbreaker crossed with Dropkick Murphys, with a twist of Agnostic Front.
While the disc is only 21 minutes long (8 songs), the band does much to establish itself as one that takes rocking hard seriously. The guitars are absolutely filthy, in a NYHC kind of way. The vocals are burly, throaty, gnarled and mean. The “whoa-oh-whoa” style choruses remind me of any number of beer-powered gutter bands, and the lead vocalists’ verses remind me of Lars from Rancid. The drums are constant jackhammers of power. Unfortunately, all of the songs sound fairly similar. But you drunken, old school punk won’t care, because every single song on this album is a bonafide sing-along classic.
Signal Path Records: http://www.signalpathrecords.com
