A friend of mine burned a copy of this CD for me a long time ago. I’ve been listening to this steadily for about a year and a half. Recently, though, Haunted Town sent us a real copy of the CD, with artwork and lyrics and everything, so I figured I’d review this late. It’s tight, fast street punk with solid anthems. It’s not totally original, but, where other bands only dabble with this sound, the Brassknuckle Boys have mastered it. The frustration and desperation is palpable in these songs. It’s real, and you can tell. For some reason, when I still only had the burn of this CD, I just assumed that at least one of these Brassknuckle Boys had spent some time in the pen, and sure enough, reading through the liner notes, one of them has. I don’t point this out to suggest that bands are cooler if one of their members has done time; I just mean that their lives seem to funnel into their songs. They also do a great cover of the old Johnny Cash song “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” (And yes, I know that Kris Kristofferson wrote and recorded it, too, but in my mind, it’ll always be a Johnny Cash song.) All in all, this is a solid album. Highly recommended.
–sean (Haunted Town)