| CD REVIEW Bulldog Courage |
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Band : Bulldog Courage I’m not sure when this Albany (New York State) based Harcore Punk band started out, but as an indication they had a 2007 demo titled Old Friends Die Hard. The quintet of Shane Williams (vocals), Buddy Armstrong (guitar), Justin King (guitar), Joe Hallmark (bass) and Jameson Muller (drums) had already canned the recordings for this album by July 2008, but due to several circumstances, the album was only released on its American label (Thorpe Records) in February of this year (after having been slated for a late 2009 release). In fact, in the meantime the band has already recorded a couple of new songs for a 7-inch (no specification whether it’s just a single, or an EP) titled The Broken Heroes Of The World’s Demise, to be (or possibly already) issued on Seasick Records. Also, there seems to have been some chenges in the line-up, because at myspace.com/bulldogcourage (I wonder, was the band named after the movie by the same title?) the line-up is mentioned to be Shane (vocals), Ryan and Justin (guitar), Micah (bass), and Jameson (drums), which makes for two possible new members (unless someone’s been playing around with nicknames, of course). At any rate, the MySpace page is also where you can listen to some 4 songs by the band (one off the new 7-inch), showcasing perfectly the band’s unique hybrid of Street Punk with your more typical NY Hardcore. Vocally Shane has a real raw growl-shout, and is often backed by gang vocals. Meaning the lyrics are either about the booze and things related, or about all the unpleasant things in the band members’ lives. Apparently the band’s often been compared as a mix of Blood For Blood and Cock Sparrer, and that ain’t as bad a description at all! The 14 tracks on the album (album closer is the band’s own version of Black Flag’s “Revenge”) will give the listener just over 35 minutes of blow-off-aggression intensities, but you’ll find yourself enjoying each and every track! Personally, I’ve found it virtually impossible to single out even one song I like more than the other (although the samples at the beginning and ending of “Our Neighborhood” certainly make the song more memorable, as does the one-liner female vocals by Sarah Russell in the track “Punk Rock Princess” – another vocal guest role was laid away for one Scott J., in the song “The Pledge”). At the end of the day, you start wondering why it took so darn long for this band to get its debut album released, even though it’d already been recorded 1 ½ years ago! Here’s me putting a Punk/Hardcore album in my personal year-lists! 98/100 Tony. |