OurStage

D.A. review from Fungal Punk The Blameshifters - Disenfranchised Anarchist - Self Release Coming out of Stockton, California The Blameshifters rightly fly the DIY flag and this three piece happily promote themselves as good old fashioned melodic speed punk. An initial independently recorded and released album entitled 'Feast Before Famine' was inflicted on the North California scene in 2005 and again 'Disenfranchised Anarchist' is another true independent release. After hearing a couple of taster tracks from the album, I had high hopes of an American band who did not go down the so predictable American pop punk route, and I wasn't disappointed. The album kicks off at a great high speed tempo with 'Fish in a Barrel' and gives a hint of the tongue in cheek sarcasm of the lyrics that flow through the album. Although all tracks on first listening give you a familiar feeling (NOFX, Bad Religion and even musically The Dickies flashed through my mind at some point) without sounding like anybody in particular, out of nowhere comes a riff that makes the track easily distinguishable from the next and a closer listen to the lyrics on future plays brings a wry smile with the bands take on American life. It's a difficult choice but 'Not Religious' is the highlight of the first half of the album with its catchy riffs, harmonies and anti-priest lyrics all packed in under two minutes two seconds. An irritating highlight as I had the tune and chorus in my head for the best part of a day! No mean feat if you know me and my short term memory. Riffs, melodies and harmonies are prevalent throughout the album and it's obvious a lot of thought has gone into crafting each of the songs, without over doing it. A lot of albums suffer midway through, not this one. Some of the strongest tracks keep the attention span in check particularly 'Our Flag Rules' followed by the title track 'Disenfranchised Anarchist' and my personal favourite, 'Those Guys'. With the very occasional drop in tempo this album comes to an all too sudden close with the final two tracks 'We're not that Dumb' and 'Stupid Drunk Kid', both follow a similar format to earlier tracks, but again new elements are thrown in to drag your attention back Overall a well crafted album with high quality production for a DIY release and a worthy addition to anybody's CD collection. If two minute catchy melodic speed punk is your thing, then it's a definite buy.

You know when it comes to reviewing a record you take a listen and I suppose for us there is the 10 second test. Well 10 seconds led to the whole album being listened to a few times. First off when the CD gets popped in you certainly pick up the strong NOFX vibe. That is way cool because NOFX is rad! .. However others when they try to inject the NOFX vibe into their stuff it just is bad, The Blameshifters do it right. There certainly is a message to the music and it seems to just seep into your physique because the harmonizing injects it in so slowly that before you know it and are have some new messages for mind to feed on. Their title track "Disenfranchised Anarchists" is perfectly sandwiched in the middle of this album and is really the meat of this offering with all the goods all around it. At times just when we thought that this album was predictable there is the injection of guitar riffs that just go off the pattern of the record to suck you in even further. Don't judge this book by it's cover, the package on this is very basic through and through which could easily get passed up by a casual browser at a record shop and it is it what is inside this package of solid recording that matters. Pick up a copy and hate the system in a melodic way.