Bristle

Won’t Die For You (Ransom Note)
by Jon Sarre

Just when I think I’m gonna go fuckin’ insane if I hear another “new” punk band rehashing the same riffs, copping the same attitudes and otherwise running the genre into the ground, someone comes along and reminds me why I loved this shit in the first place. Bristle is such a band: Fast, grubby, gritty and gleefully kickin’ the snot outta the old punk war-horse, as if that’s gonna make it get back up and run the Kentucky Derby (and win this time!).

I can’t say that anything on this disc sounds really new or ground-breaking, but it’s all tied into the way Bristle is so single-mindedly relentless as they tear through the fourteen songs presented here. They almost make ripping off one Operation Ivy song into something to base a career on! Definitely one of the few bands who pulls it off without coming across as crass rip-offs. How come Bristle isn’t Lars Frederickson’s favorite band yet?