Remains is a killer release from Alkaline Trio ā€“ and itā€™s not even an album per se, but rather a collection of 22 of their 7ā€¯ singles, contributions to compilations, b-sides, cover songs, tracks originally found on split releases, and live versions.

As such, it includes the three songs from their split with Hot Water Music that constituted my first exposure to the ā€™Trio, one of which (the atmospheric While Youā€™re Waiting) remains possibly my favourite of their songs. But several other tracks here have now been added to the shortlist vying for that title, in particular opening punk rocker Hell Yes and the agitated Jaked On Green Beers, a savage evisceration of a former friend.

The songs on offer cover nearly the entire career of the band, and their chronological order documents not only a change in drummers but also the groupā€™s evolution from the morbid gothic punk of Dead End Road et al to the less urgent but still gloom-infused melodic rock of their later material.

While I favour the first half of the album, the second half does have some interesting experiments such as the string section of Sadie, the atypical shimmering sounds of Donā€™t Say You Wonā€™t (which evokes The Cure) and the gradually increasing tempo of Buried.

The covers consist of songs originally by Berlin, Hot Water Music and The Damned (a most appropriate choice), and the three live songs include an acoustic version of My Standard Break From Life.

The CD also comes packaged with a DVD, the best part of which is the music videos for five previous singles. The other bonus features also prove marginally better than the main feature documentary, in which the live performances look great but sound sub-par. But while the DVD may not be essential, the elaborate packaging (with liner notes from the band for each track) definitely is.

Owen Heitmann

Itā€™s hard to think of a more suitable producer for this album than Rancidā€™s Lars Frederiksen. I mean, Dead And Gone is all but a medley of tracks from …And Out Come The Wolves ā€“ so much so that itā€™s easy to find yourself thinking that vocalist/guitarist Eric Urbach is playing a cover and getting the lyrics wrong ā€“ albeit lacking one of the memorable choruses that are the hallmark of that album. Religion, Sex And Struggle similarly sounds like it could have come from the pen of Tim Armstrong. (The mid-paced punk ā€?nā€™ roll Choice Through Struggle, however, could be NOFX, despite featuring Frederiksen as co-vocalist.)

When not imitating Rancid or NOFX, the four-pieceā€™s strongest influence is early ā€™80s hardcore. The rhythm section tear through Corruption (which shows the band can do good choruses), the breakneck Infiltrated Minds is peppered with pick slides, gang vocals and scorching lead breaks, and Trenches sounds like UK Subs tackling Holeā€™s Celebrity Skin.

Urbachā€™s gruff voice belies his 17 years but his blunt delivery smacks of trying too hard. Itā€™s only on the slashing strut of Junk, Dope And Speed that he really sounds natural and convincing. His harsh tones sound particularly out of place on the closing cover of The Policeā€™s Next To You when contrasted with the backing harmonies.

Static Thoughtā€™s debut shows a lot of potential, and hopefully that promise will be more fully realised once they develop their own voice. The band has the musical chops but the songwriting for the most part is a little lacklustre and derivative, without capturing the spark that made the bands theyā€™re copying great.

Owen Heitmann

While Millencolinā€™s Nikola Sarcevic has veered dramatically away from Millencolinā€™s sound into countrified ballad territory on his solo albums, bandmate Mathias Farmā€™s side-project Franky Lee finds him taking almost the opposite approach ā€“ sticking to the punk genre but dropping the poppier melodic touches that litter Millencolinā€™s output in favour of a harder rock edge in the vein of fellow Scandinavians such as the Peepshows (not altogether surprising, given that former Peepshows guitarist Magnus Hageras makes up one-third of this new outfit, alongside drummer Fredrik Granberg from Randy).

Drawing their moniker from the Bob Dylan song The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest (perhaps the only song to have had two bands lift different names from its title), Franky Leeā€™s wall of sound couldnā€™t be further from that sparse John Wesley Harding cut. Farm and Hagerasā€™ twin guitar assault (both also play bass on the record, although they have a touring bassist) gives the songs a real muscular rock sound on cuts such as pumping opener Solitary, inexorable Cold Eyes and the monumental single The World Just Stopped.

Admit Defeat is a touch more accessible, channelling the earnest yearning of Samiam, but itā€™s one of the few minor variations on an album that predominantly all sounds very similar, if high octane. While the album might be called Cutting Edge, thatā€™s not a phrase that anyoneā€™s going to use to describe it (at least not figuratively): the riffs here might be incisive, but theyā€™re not exactly innovative.

Owen Heitmann

Quirky four-piece Piebald have been around since the mid-ā€™90s (having regrouped after a brief split earlier this decade), and while their early releases endeared them to the emocore set, their sound has developed into a solid nerd-rock style that contrasts plenty of crunching guitar with occasional piano and frontman Travis Shettelā€™s weedy singing voice.

Accidental Gentlemen finds the band continuing to grow and mature. Shettelā€™s once trademark sense of wit is now more evident in song titles (Getting Mugged And Loving It, the cutely titled opening track Opener) than the lyrics. In fact, rather than wordplay still being their most memorable characteristic, itā€™s rapidly becoming their ecological interests that form the defining image of the band. The trio of Life On The Farm, the choppy Nature Wins and jaunty, piano-heavy bike anthem Roll On that conclude the listed tracks (a hidden re-recording of old song We Cannot Read Poetry follows) in particular paint a lyrical fixation with getting in touch with and respecting nature. Backing up these words with actions, the band have modified their tour van to run on used cooking oil, kind of making them hippies who actually know how to rock.

And rock out they do: Thereā€™s Always Something To Do (The Strutter) boasts a killer riff, Oh, The Congestionā€™s jittery guitar is full of agitation, and Getting Mugged And Loving It is upbeat and crunchy. This is, however, balanced out by the placid On And On and moreso the ambling cover of The Kinksā€™ Strangers, although the energy level of the album as a whole is high.

Accidental Gentlemenā€™s main drawback is that the songs donā€™t stick in your mind as much as their best material, but itā€™s still a worthwhile album, if not the best introduction to the band for a new listener.

Owen Heitmann

Only Crime is a punk supergroup of sorts, featuring luminaries Bill Stevenson (Descendents/All drummer) and Russ Rankin (Good Riddance singer), plus guitarist Aaron Dalbec of Bane and Converge, and the brothers Blair ā€“ guitarist Zach (GWAR) and bassist Doni (Hagfish). However, the groupā€™s second album Virulence proves to be far less than the sum of its parts.

Offering twelve tracks of melodic hardcore, the album has its moments, but they are in the minority. Rankinā€™s delivery lacks conviction on many songs (Eyes Of The World, Nowā€™s The Time), while the band sleepwalk through the likes of Shotgun and This Is Wretched. Despite the rapid tempos, the songs often sound listless and generally lack the hooks to make proceedings interesting.

There are moments that show what could have been: Just Us is stirring and heartfelt, Too Loose is passionate and blazing, and In Your Eyes is barely forty seconds long but still visceral. However, for most of its running time Virulence sounds like a band going through the motions and failing to convince. The lyrics are also so impenetrable that theyā€™re hard to relate to: lines like ā€?a poison will coerce you to the very brink of salient pathologyā€¯ are perplexing rather than erudite, resulting in a surfeit of songs that fail to connect with the listener either musically or thematically.

Virulence isnā€™t terrible, but itā€™s nothing special, which is frustrating considering the notable backgrounds of its members.

Owen Heitmann

Unwritten Law have covered a variety of styles during their career, often on the one album, but ā€?melodic punkā€™ remains a good general description of their output. While The Hit List is a greatest hits (or ā€?most requested at live showsā€¯, at least) collection for UL, the band have chosen to re-record all the songs (with the exception of the three cuts from their most recent studio album, Hereā€™s To The Mourning). This decision was ostensibly made in order for the current four-piece lineup to put their stamp on material recorded with different members, although it would take a very attentive listener to notice anything different about tracks such as the ska-influenced Up All Night and the punchy Seeinā€™ Red from Elva, or the breakthrough hits from their self-titled third album, the mosh-ready Lonesome and the plaintive love song Cailin. The only easily noticeable change is to the song Superman (from early album Oz Factor), the first verse of which has been slowed right down.

However, the presence of the re-recorded versions will nonetheless make this a more worthwhile purchase for completists who would otherwise be shelling out their hard earned solely for the obligatory two new tracks included: Shoulda Known Better, a dark narrative of crime and addiction with near-spoken verses and a characteristic chorus, and Welcome To Oblivion, which retreads familiar ground both lyrically and musically. (In addition to the 19 listed tracks, thereā€™s also a hidden second version of Shoulda Known Better featuring guest vocals from the songā€™s co-writer Mickey Avalon on the verses instead of Unwritten Law frontman Scott Russo.)

The collection certainly holds together well, although whether this cohesiveness is due to the re-recording ensuring consistency or the fact that the song selection homogenizes the band and removes the polar extremes of their output is debatable. But as a collection of the bandā€™s best-known numbers, itā€™s hard to fault.

Owen Heitmann