The current political climate, while it’s certainly not helping any of us make money or sleep at night, is certainly giving political punk bands something to sing about. The mohawked, pierced and studded NYC band The Casualties are no exception, although they seem to be getting more political with age.
The Casualties represent raw street punk at its most raucous–you won’t necessarily know exactly what they’re singing about, but you’ll end up singing along. Or screaming, or chanting, or just jumping up and down and pumping your fist in the air. They’ve gotten a bit more polished with this album, harmonies occasionally showing up beneath the howling, and more cohesive but still just as violent guitar and drums.
You get the feeling that they’re maturing away from the spit-in-your-face, puke-on-your-shoes party punks who’ve thumbed their noses at society into something wiser. They don’t have the political rhetoric and polish of bands like Anti-Flag, but they’ve got something to say today, even if you can only make out every third word. Their chant-along choruses give enough of a clue to that.
