(Hed) p.e.

The DIY Guys (Suburban Noize)
by Scott Hefflon

Always liked the idea of these guys better than their actual music. This slab’s mostly a live CD and DVD documentary of “their punk ass life” or whatever. So here’s my take (you’re welcome to check them out and disagree, or agree, it matters little to me): They cross-genres, which is swell, they rap, which is not, they play metal, which is good, they play punk, which is good, they hate a lot of stuff, which is good, their bio says they put on a killer live show (like a bio is ever gonna say their questionable band also sucks balls live?), but unless you already love the band live, this is mostly “see? The fans love us!” hoo-ha. If you like Skindred, this might get you through ’til their next release. But, to me, their punk is pretty obvious (yeah, punk can have nuances), their metal is pretty obvious (yeah, good metal can do a lot more than just roar in your face), and rap metal? Well, if all the knuckledragging wanna-be suburban hoodie thugs would finally knock up some teenager and not be able to afford CDs or concert tickets anymore, I think we could kill off that barrel-scraping genre once and for all. Rage Against the Machine was awesome, Kottonmouth Kings are not. Admittedly, these guys have a handfulla songs that really sound good, if you can overlook the fact that they sound like slightly-altered covers of the songs you really love. Perhaps the best, most diverse cover band I can name would be an accurate tag. If your standards for originality are far lower than mine and you’re just looking for something to rock out to, shit, this might just be your thing.
(www.suburbannoizerecords.com)