Album Review: The Bronx - The Bronx III
“If it works, don’t fix it.” is clearly a phrase that Los Angeles-based hardcore-punk band, The Bronx have stuck to in writing their third self titled album. And with good reason too. ‘The Bronx III’ is a snarling, quick paced flash of teeth and blood that most bands aim for and few achieve. However, The Bronx have exceled in cramming as much carnage that can be done with a 5 piece band into a short 35 minute album. And all without loosing a grain of class.The album kicks in with ‘Knifeman’, and the moment that each of the band’s instruments begins their layered intros to that similar of a furious marching beat, you’re hooked. And when the vocalist Matt Caughthran opens up with “I want to be original/I want to be surrounded by art/But everything is digital/The formulas are fallin’ apart.” you instantly know that this is a band who make music for a meaning. A band hasn’t caused me to become so intrigued in the lyrics since H2O’s ‘Nothing To Prove’, an album that many have praised as one of the best albums of 2008. And ‘Knifeman’ is only the beginning.
‘Inveigh’ kicks in with the stomping drum rhythyms that ticks off all the ‘classic Bronx’ boxes for the hardcore fans and allows for The Bronx to bring out their ‘singalong’ elements that older, slower songs, such as ‘Dirty Leaves’ and ‘White Guilt’, on ‘The Bronx II’, had into their quicker, upbeat songs. A clear sign of a band that has attempted to fuse their varied songs to bring out a record that appeals to their die-hard fans and ‘I-like-some-of-Bronx’s-songs’ fans. And the non-stop brutal onslaught, that The Bronx gracefully uses to entangle the listener to their punk melodys, doesn’t stop there. ‘Enemy Mind’ is going to tear apart every venue it is played in with a mess of bodies as the crowd will rip the place apart, to the blood-curdling shriek that guitarist Joby Ford screams after Matt Caughthran rallies up the sweaty bodied audience for the fist pumping chorus of “Enemy mind/Enemy mind/ Now!”.
‘Inveigh’ kicks in with the stomping drum rhythyms that ticks off all the ‘classic Bronx’ boxes for the hardcore fans and allows for The Bronx to bring out their ‘singalong’ elements that older, slower songs, such as ‘Dirty Leaves’ and ‘White Guilt’, on ‘The Bronx II’, had into their quicker, upbeat songs. A clear sign of a band that has attempted to fuse their varied songs to bring out a record that appeals to their die-hard fans and ‘I-like-some-of-Bronx’s-songs’ fans. And the non-stop brutal onslaught, that The Bronx gracefully uses to entangle the listener to their punk melodys, doesn’t stop there. ‘Enemy Mind’ is going to tear apart every venue it is played in with a mess of bodies as the crowd will rip the place apart, to the blood-curdling shriek that guitarist Joby Ford screams after Matt Caughthran rallies up the sweaty bodied audience for the fist pumping chorus of “Enemy mind/Enemy mind/ Now!”.
‘Pleasure Seekers’ will echo their more ‘rock and roll’ sound as the speed is taken down a notch. However, this song helps connect their other more fast paced anthems together and still embodies the thick and bold vocal style that Matt Caughthran has really gone all out on to impress the listener this time round. And again, we are kicked back into ‘Six Days A Week’ that will cause the crowd to thrash wildly as Caughthran slurs and spits out “Cos its a real deal line between crime and suicide!” as the song crashes to a dramatic close.
The whole album doesn’t stop for a moment, gone are the filler songs that were used to pack out the previous albums and in has come the non-stop-punk disaster ride that will have even the most distant fans nodding in time to the thundering drum beat and the entangling entrapment that the bass and guitar use to ensnare your senses. Guaranteed that closers of the album ‘Spanish Handshake’ and ‘Digital Leash’ will still kick a punch after listening to the rest of this engrossing album and will leave you gasping for more.
The Bronx are as far from mainstream as you could be, however this album is a real progression in the band’s catalogue and will certainly catch on a greater following in the growing punk underground. And with each of their albums improving even more and more, roll on The Bronx IV.
9.5/10
9.5/10
Andy Touch
