Volume Two

Reagan Youth was one of the strangest punk bands to appear in a long time. They had the typical tuneless punk vocals and snotty attitude, but they injected their music with a jangly modern rock sound mixed with Suicidal Tendencies-style jazz-metal riffs. The album begins with two superb punk rock raves. "It's a Beautiful Day" might be the best song; painting a picture of suburbia with acidic wit, singer David I contributes his best vocal and lyrical performance here. "Jesus Was a Communist" is another fine addition to their collection, sounding more metal than punk but still keeping their humorous edge. From this point forward, there is not much to recommend lyrically, but musically this is an extremely talented bunch. Bassist Pusi Koorahts stands out with his jazzy noodling, with guitarist Paul Cripple countering it with his Peter Buck/Rocky George riffing. Much of the album is typical pedestrian hardcore, but when played by these musicians it feels more urgent and interesting than many of their contemporaries. Punk and hardcore fans will probably enjoy this, but it's not an album that will convince fans of other types of music. ~ Bradley Torreano