Only Crime – Virulence
Label: Fat Wreck Chords
I suppose you could call Only Crime a Punk Rock Supergroup, so I got pretty excited when this arrived in the post. The band is made up of Russ Rankin on vocals (Good Riddance), Bill Stevenson on drums (Descendents, All, Black Flag), Aaron Dalbec on guitar (Bane, Converge), Zach Blair also on guitar (Gwar, Hagfish) and Donivan Blair on drums (Gwar). It’s been two years since their debut album To The Nines, so the follow up comes on the shape of Virulence.
From the opening track Take me I could tell I was in for a treat, this song sounds like it could have been taken straight from a Black Flag album, it manages to catch all the intensity and also grab a bit of the Descendents on the way. This record is full of catchy riffs and choruses that will have you nodding along in no time! This is heavy punk and hardcore mixing melody and rhythmic experimentation. Other good songs are the melodic Shotgun, which sounds like later Descendents. The best way to describe this album is not very imaginative on my part but I would have to say a mix of Black Flag/Descendents and the anthemic part of Good Riddance. If you like these bands then you know exactly what you’re getting here.
The production on the record is first class as always with Fat Wreck Chords and another great release for those guys. In all there is not a bad song on this record and the only bad thing I can say is that there’s not enough tracks on it. If you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned above then you’re probably gonna love it.
by Dale
You can check out Only Crime here:
