BANDS:

Punk & Ska
80's New Wave/
Post-Punk/
College Bands
90's & Beyond
Virginia, North
Carolina, & DC

Hard-Ons: Very Exciting
[Bomp]

I dont care if Beat Magazine deems The Hard-Ons Motorhead meets the Beach Boys. I also dont care if this group of Australians has had widespread success on their native independent charts. No number of facts and figures or P.R. could make The Hard-Ons what their latest album title proclaims them to be: Very Exciting!

Dont misunderstand me. Its not that Very Exciting! is a completely shite album or that The Hard-Ons dont have their merits. Quite the contrary. The album simply starts off on the wrong foot. We all know how important first impressions are, and the first track of Very Exciting!, Sunny, is just your run-of-the-mill kind of testosterone-drenched pseudo-punk that most teenagers would enjoy. Unfortunately, this brand of crap happens to be a recurring theme for The Hard-Ons on this album.

Enough complaining, though. As previously mentioned, this album has its merits, and they do deserve some lip service. Hard-hitting sounds permeate many tracks on the first half of the album and make for a rocking good time. Not the most devastatingly serious music Ive ever listened to, but a welcome improvement from the albums debut track. The Hard-Ons pull some interesting switches in Cats Got Your Tongue. The track starts out in a hardcore fashion that would give Botch a run for their money but changes to a much more poppy sound. Strange but secretly cool. Race Track might be the funniest song Ive heard in months due simply to the count off at the beginning.

Overall, this album is a gamble. Its not nearly perfect, but it is enjoyable at times. Although it stumbles at the start, it comes out a winner in the end.

This album can be purchased at Amazon, Insound, and CD Universe

Bomp Records

More Album Reviews

About LOTD        Contact/Staff        Advertise        Home

All content  © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved.