Revilers

I Was High On Life...But Then I Built A Tolerance

Written by: PP on 24/11/2010 03:21:34

Dear Antibodies: This is an exhibit of how to write old school punk rock and not suck at it. Cheap shots aside, the band in question is Revilers, a tiny Boston act that specializes in combining the old school, hardcore-rooted punk sound with textbook Boston street punk. Think of how punk rock sounded like just before Operation Ivy released their seminal album "Energy", back when melody was only on its way to punk rock but just before it became the main focus in the genre. That's how Revilers sound on their new nine track effort, of which there is so little information available that I'm not entirely sure whether it's really called "I Was High On Life...But Then I Built A Tolerance". I'm gonna go with it though cause that's in the ID3 tags of the songs sent to me by the label, and because it's an awesome title, and because it seems to be some sort of a compilation release consisting of the band's two EPs put together into one remastered release.

So yeah, this is 80s punk rock/hardcore alright, but with the positive notion that it has some pretty good production for starters. Nothing fancy, but a decent one that allows for just enough melody to make the songs interesting as opposed to just sounding like retrospectives of the genre's roots that disappeared more than two decades ago. And though it's mostly three chord songs with some textured coarse vocals on top, they work because they are so simple and easily enjoyable. The riffs may not be from the most complicated end of punk rock, but they are damn catch and have your head nodding straight from the first listen. A song like "Dead End" has hints of really, REALLY old Bad Religion to it, whereas the gang-shouted "Isolation" makes sure the band stays in the realm of hardcore and doesn't venture too far into the melodic side of things. One reviewer called it "hearty 'n' tuneful punk rock" - I hereby concur and give a strong recommendation for the two EPs.

Download: Isolation, Dead End, Road Rage
For the fans of: Those Unknown, Urban Waste, Blitz, 80s hardcore/punk
Listen: Facebook

Release date 11.10.2010
Self-Released

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