Marty McFly: I’m sorry Doc; it’s all my fault you’re stuck back there. I never should have let Biff get to me!
Young Doc: Well, there are plenty worse places to be than the Old West. I could’ve ended up in the Dark Ages. They probably would have burned me at the stake as a heretic or something…
Best get yourselves strapped tight in the DeLorean DMC-12 people; we’re takin’ another blast back to the dawn of Hardcore with Sweden’s self styled barn av den svarta hål.
On their 3rd LP these Umeå dudes continue to lay down some of the most faithful old time North American Hardcore on the planet, packed with pissed, loud, snotty and sarcastic attitude of the type that came busting out of (notably) Southern California in the early Eighties. It’s an era that easily hits a Classic on the punk-o-meter, and Regulations go straight for the good shit…. (early) ‘Flag, Circle Jerks, Adolescents, Germs, and the title track has got a definite Flipper-ness to it… cool!
I’m really digging the dozen tracks on “To Be Me”, this is my idea of sharp melodic punk, with barely any of the songs breaking the 2minute mark, and when they even stretch to an incredible 3:18 on “Down the Street”… you can be sure this ain’t no feeble power ballad. Hard to pick favourites, but “Baghdad Beach Party” is a gnarly surf punk salvo, bang up to date with its blunt statement on the mess the West has caused in the Middle East, and I love the sentiments of “In The Shadow of a Mall”… U.C life is not the life for me!
I don’t think you will hear many better punk albums than “To Be Me” this year.
Pete Craven