Blank Blackout Vacant

Though not quite the shotgun blast of an album that its predecessor, Feel the Darkness, was, Blank Blackout Vacant is nonetheless an ample testimony to Poison Idea's unbridled power and force. Suffused with enough hate, pain, and rage to fuel an entire army, Jerry A.'s vocals, positively dripping with bile and venom, certainly cement his ideas with passion and force. "Understated" is not a word that is possible to use with this band. Poison Idea, from their inception in the very early '80s through their terminal point, shone with bitter, violent power. Unlike most Poison Idea albums from the '80s, Blank Blackout Vacant doesn't rely on speed to get its point across. In fact, a song like "Forever and Always," with its loose, Aerosmith-like groove and its saxophone, presages the type of rock & roll that bands like Rocket from the Crypt would make years later. Many other songs reside in the same vein. The cover of the New York Dolls' "Vietnamese Baby" provides an interesting touch, amping up the original, while retaining its desperate, low-rent feeling. While not quite the bellowing, fire-breathing beast that is Feel the Darkness, Blank Blackout Vacant is a more varied, eclectic piece of work from this veteran American hardcore band. ~ Patrick Kennedy