American Steel

Rogue’s March (Lookout!)
by Tim Den

There’s finally an American answer to Leatherface. All praise American Steel, the most blisteringly balls-out emotional punk band since Crimpshrine. It’s impossible not to be touched by songs like “Loaded Gun” and the title track, where fond memories of how Leatherface’s Mush turned you into a cryin’ mess with its nicotine-and-whiskey growls have finally been channeled by a contemporary band. Full of Berkley, CA’s street energy and gutter anthems, Rogue’s March sounds like a soundtrack to revolution: sincere defiance at the world’s wrongs and hopelessly romantic about the struggle to make things better (however desperate the attempt). Winks at other influences such as early Rancid (“Whiskey, Women, and Blackguarding (Ain’t no Cure for a Broken Heart)”) and The Clash (“Got a Backbeat”) show that this band knows how not only to mix it up, but to do it with the same integrity that their idols represented. A record that must be played loud on every drinking night.(www.lookoutrecords.com)