Rating: Yes

The Decline

Fat Wreck Chords

A punk-rock opera at a slim 18:19 or just one helluva long song? I'll opt for the latter, as you get a taste of just about everything this earnest punkrock combo has to offer, from popified-hardcore to ska, even some tasty groove. In the end, though, it's always back to the hardcore, because isn't that the language of dissent? Thanks to e-nun-see-a-suhn, you'll catch every bit of social commentary as it zings past like The McLaughlin Group on crack. Taken as a whole, the mini-opus is a collection of anti-gun, anti-war, anti-lemming slogans, strung together with a couple scenarios and thin characters (one guy doing hard time (literally), who opts for offing himself; a boy-hunter with family game in his sites). The tempo shifts are as jarring as they're suppose to be and when it's all over, you're not sure what you've heard, other than guns are bad, greed is bad and we're all going down together. Not the most original message ever pressed on vinyl, especially since punk bands have been cutting their teeth on such rhetoric for almost 30 years. Even so, it's entertaining, but probably more relevant seen on stage. And it's hard to argue the "Pay no more than $11" price when proceeds are going toward "heeps of gnarly human and animal rights organizations."

back toPublished in The Reader Jan. 6, 2000. Copyright © 2000 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.