Of Things to Come

(BYO)
by Scott Hefflon

A 14-song, 33 minute soundtrack to a snowboarding video (I guess, from the bio and the number of snowboarding sponsors on the back) and, for a change, not a bunch of songs you wonder how the hell anyone could ever snowboard to. In other words, no hip-hop. Designed for dangling arms and loose amblin’, I’ve never understood how anyone could skate, snowboard, or partake of any physical activity (aside from leaving the room) while the bass lines thump (or whatever that shit does for people). Of Things to Come is all manic-paced punk (except for a dull emo track – as if there’s any other kind – by ErrorType11 and a hardcore/boring metal track by Hatebreed, but no one’s perfect), with some prize picks at that. A fave track by Dillinger Four, “Doublewhiskeycokenoice,” a by-the-book punk song by Anti-Flag called “Punk By The Book,” a dirty-sounding hoedown by SuperSuckers from their ’93 SubPop days, a typically enjoyable song by Good Riddance, followed by a noisy song by Pinhead Circus circa ’96. Bouncing Souls contribute “Born to Lose,” their crowd-pleasing best-on-BYO, Swingin’ Utters sound a little cleaned up with “New Day Rising,” though that’s like calling a dirt floor freshly swept, and H20 kick in a track I keep thinking is the Bouncing Souls on a bad day. A pleasant surprise comes in Pegboy‘s “Fade Away,” a band that basically did, but a fine testament to when Touch & Go was great. Another ripper comes in the form of an unreleased Pezz song, “Pucker Factor,” then Voodoo Glow Skulls remix “Ugly Stick” into perhaps the best song I’ve ever heard from them (while still not the most profound piece, nor the most technologically impressive work, it’s pretty fuckin’ cool to hear loops, pounding beats, and spacey sounds during a VGS song), and the CD closes with Zeke’s rough’n’tumble cover of Kiss’ “Shout it out Loud,” which, of course, rules.

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