Sunday, August 14, 2005

Music Review: Choking Victim "No Gods. No Managers"

When I picked this one up from the record store, the guy there told me I could return it if it won't play because there's apparently a "manufacturing defect" on the CD. Do you think I could return it for being ska-influenced?

The stupid thing is, I didn't expect it to be ska-influenced. Even though it's on Hellcat, which is pretty much a ska label, it didn't sink in. Even with the "Crack Rock Steady" cartoon on the back. For some reason, I was expecting grindcore, which really makes no sense at all.

Anyway, they're from NYC and they play ska-tinged streetpunk, which is a way of saying that they play the same three streetpunk songs that every one of these bands plays. But, they play it well, and at least there's a sense of humor here. Also, it unexpectedly gets great a few songs in. But, seriously- I could never review bands for Maximumrocknroll.

Pretty much the expected themes here. Would it surprise anyone to hear that they're not fond of police officers ("Crack Rock Steady")? Or that they support shoplifting ("Five Finger Discount")? Or that they hate war ("War Story")? This stuff gets called "Preaching to the choir" but it's really more like bitching. So, it's not exactly my thing. But, the question is, would people who like this sort of thing actually like this thing?

Absolutely. "Tha punx" will love it. The melodies are great, even though about half of them we've heard in a million songs, and the lyrics have a nihilistic glee that revels in how stupid most of the things that we believe in actually are. So, it's really easy to sing along with. And, for all their knee-jerk anarchism, the band seems to have read a good number of books. So, they can tie a song about being always broke to a Michael Parenti sample about police brutality and have it make some sense. But, it's hard not to listen to these albums and not think that the lyrics are a lot more hopeless than they were 20 years ago.

Finally, on second listen, the music is really pretty tight. A lot more thrash than it seemed the first time I listened to it. And there's a startling flamenco guitar on "Praise to the Sinners" that bleeds into solid hardcore metal. I just sort of wish these bands would include, along with the typical challenges against capitalists, America, the police, the Church, and everything else that can be placed in the phrase "Fuck _______" something that might actually challenge the listener as well.