Is this a new Spits record? Because all I’m hearing is Sean Wood’s trademark Cro-Magnon grunt and Ramones downpicking, except the mix on the vocals renders them into an indecipherable bark. In fact, until I read the lyric sheet, I wasn’t positive if they were singing in English! However, the lyrics are a redeeming quality. “One tour in Iraq / You’ll never want me back” is tragically succinct, and the trio is sometimes cleverly satirical: “I got an expired MTA card / I got no plans to go real far / I got a girl, doesn’t wanna talk to me / Modern problems.” Nuclear Santa Claust’s gonzo edge and paranoid insights time warp these songs out of throwback territory and into relevancy, but the same ol’, same ol’ music leaves me unsatisfied.
–Sean Arenas (Don Giovanni, dongiovannirecords.com)