The Forgotten
Control Me (BYO)
by Vinnie Apicella
New record, new label, bonafide bone-rattling, in yer face, pistol-whipped preaching to the choir. Control Me comes away as the antithetical title to the noxious attitude within the 12 tell-all tunes. Fans may remember them from 2000’s Keep The Corpses Quiet on TKO. Unfortunately, I forgot. But this one’s a keeper. With fistfuls of retro-fitted fury, they successfully link early ’80s punk rock dead age, recalling the second-rate greats of the day – Business, Cocksparrer, et, al – and redirect with today’s take-to-the-streets revival, coming away as one of the true leaders of Bay Area brash. Loud, proud, and… you guessed it! (Feel free to insert gratuitous “F” wherever applicable.) The unified vision and voice here carries long after the notes have died off, and where “Respect & Lies,” “Retrofitted,” “Never Accepted,” and “Rebellion” bring the believer back to life in blood-stained splendor, others like “Social Security,” “We Gotta Know,” and “Our Response” dig deeper beyond the average authorial question schemes. It’s a punk protagonist of a record, put to practice with beefier guitar hooks and gang vox, adding up to greater distinction and definition than many, and done without the pointless prefab or hair-pulling exploits to selling up wholesale theories of world salvation or toothless pride.
(PO Box 67A64 Los Angeles, CA 90067)