From the promo sheet touting these dudes as “streetrock” and the nice silk-screened cover showcasing a bunch of dudes with mohawks, I was really rooting for something that sounded like Bombshell Rocks or even Rancid. I mean, my secret’s out: I actually like Rancid quite a bit, in spite of their genre-hopping, their posturing, their blossoming thug/gang mentality. It’s embarrassing, but it’s there, you know? I was thinking, “Yeah, SS Kaliert—the thinking man’s Rancid! I can get behind this shit!” Then I actually put the record on and instead of the anthemic gravel-buried-in-the-melody stuff I was hoping for, these guys kick out four surprisingly dense, tough songs with hardly a hint of melody or “singalongness” to be found. I mean, the lyrics are all super-positive and they’re obviously totally fired up on punk, but that undercurrent of jump-in-the-air pogo that I was looking for was lacking, and was replaced with something a lot more simple and, like I said, tough. So if you want some sharp-as-nails street stuff that you’ll be hard pressed to sing along with, grab it up. It’s not bad, and it’s definitely heartfelt. Just a little too rough around the edges for me.
–keith (FNS)