THE CASUALTIES
Die Hards (Side One Dummy)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

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"Trick or treat! Our first song is called ‘Get Off My Back', cuz we're punk rock, man, and we hate society!"

These boyz are ‘Diehard' enough to even print the grunts of their vocalist in the inner sleeve ("Argh, Argh"). Not seeming to care that punk is gathering flies, and has been since most of this band still ate peanut butter sandwiches in the sandbox. A hectic onslaught, that's well done despite how ridiculous you or I think their hair looks. Makes me wanna watch "Repo Man" again.

"Hated at school. All the jocks and Barbie dolls. So I joined the punk scene to get away from it all."

Those corny lyrics would have definitely worked in the eighties when I was in high school, but now that punk is (well…was) hip, it's arguable that there are now probably as many jocks in the punk scene as at the football game.

They can obviously play better than they're doing, and I just think dumbing down your songs so that the Mall tykes will like you is going against everything a band like The Casualties appears to stand for. You wanna be really different guys? Start by playing music that isn't easy enough that my fucking dog can play it, and lose the Halloween gear too.

© 2001 - Jason Thornberry