Scum
Pavement Music, 1998
http://www.antinowhereleague.com
REVIEW BY: Paul Hanson
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 10/18/2005
In "Long Live Punk," the Anti-Nowhere League proclaim "Well we hit the streets with hell for leather / You know Punk Rock's gonna live forever / Punk Rock's gonna live forever / Punk Rock's gonna live forever."
Hopefully it will be performed by bands that have their act together more than this one.
In concept, I admit it's a great idea. Take the band that originally played the vulgar "So What" that Metallica covered and released on the CD single for "Sad But True." Then, fueled by the popularity of the Metallica cover, go into the studio and record more songs in the hope that the fact that Metallica fans seem to like "So What" may translate into gigantic album sales.
Of all the flaws with this logic, I will focus upon the three largest: First of all, the Anti-Nowhere League is too raw to get a lot of mainstream attention. Their songs are full of vulgarity, which you can read at your leisure here. Their idea of good lyrics are drivel like "We all fall down like chocolate soldiers!" Elsewhere in the song, vocalist Animal declares "Do you like the feeling when you're getting high / Do you run with a gang when you want to bang / Hey why don't you try / You're shooting up and maybe...you're gonna wake the dead." I want my punk rock to be more intelligent than this and, in fact, I demand that the musicians don't treat me like a moron by insulting my intelligence.
Second, the band is made up of lousy musicians who sound like they aren't trying as hard as they should be trying to write a decent guitar riff. The melodies on this release are primitively moronic and not even mildly interesting overall. A week after you hear this release, you will not remember a riff, except maybe "Scum." Maybe that is because the band actually wrote an introduction to the song and attempted to establish a mood.
The drumming is plodding and the drums sound like crap. You thought Lars Ulrich's drums on St. Anger sounded bad? Ulrich's drums sound awesome compared to the non-resonant thuds of drummer Kevin Taylor. Animal's vocals are whiny, snooty, and delivered in an annoyingly irritating nasally manner. The riff of "Suicide . . . Have You Tried" sounds like something a bunch of monkeys in a room with guitars and drums could surpass.
Animal and guitarist Magoo produced this release. This song serves as an example of why bands should not produce themselves. This song screams - no, begs - for a producer outside of the band to say "Are you crazy? This song blows!"
Third, and finally, the material just isn't interesting. As I mentioned, the riffs aren't memorable, the lyrics are mind-numbingly awful and delivered with such a crappy resolve that... well, I think I've wasted enough of our time.