Review Summary: The Bronx are back, kicking ass and taking names.
Just like any major metropolitan expanse, Los Angeles has a glorified image that doesn't fit the cold reality of the city. You don't have to look far beyond the clubs, beaches and miles of urban sprawl to to see the true nature of Los Angeles. On Hollywood's mega-hyped Sunset Strip you are more likely to be accosted by an army of strung-out and tattered homeless than meet your favorite debutante starlet. Its this dichotomy that made Los Angeles home to many of the movers and shakers of the punk scene. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion and The Minutemen all cut their teeth in the City of Angels. Some 20 years after the rise of the LA hardcore scene, The Bronx rekindled it's spirit on their 2003 eponymous debut and mixed it with their brand of highly energetic rock and roll. 2006 saw the release of yet another eponymous release this time adding touches of psychedelia and desert rock into their sound. Now its two years later and The Bronx are back with another album titled, you guessed it,
The Bronx.
The Bronx (III) sees The Bronx dropping the trippier influences that ran through their previous album in favor of a more streamlined Rock & Roll assault that makes
The Bronx (III) a much easier listen. Picture Queens of the Stone Age covering Black Flag but without Josh Homme's droning croon weighing it down. In its place is the raging Matt Caughtran. His rough and tumble mix of throaty screams and whiskey soaked cleans make nearly every song on
The Bronx (III) an instant anthem. Its impossible not to scream along to lines like
"Maybe in the next life I'll be a hero, not a criminal." (from Past Lives) when they are belted out with such infectious passion. The band behind Caughtran is just as raucous and energetic is he is. Guitarists Joby Ford and Ken Horne provide plenty of headbangingly awesome no-nonsense riffs and Jorma Vik beats the hell out of his drum kit in every song.
The Bronx (III) bleeds intensity.
The Bronx have emerged at just the right time. With scores of epicene mall-punk kids treating music as a fashion trend, The Bronx prove that Rock & Roll is about playing whatever the hell you want louder than anyone else. And in that sense
The Bronx (III) is a statement album. It shows that while fads may come and go you really cant beat good ol' Rock & Roll and The Bronx rock with the best of them.
