ONLY CRIME – Virulence (Fat Wreck)
Original release date: January 23rd, 2007
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 – guitarist Zach (GWAR) and bassist Doni (Hagfish). However, the group’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. Rankin’s delivery lacks conviction on many songs (Eyes Of The World, Now’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 they’re hard to relate to: lines like “a poison will coerce you to the very brink of salient pathology” are perplexing rather than erudite, resulting in a surfeit of songs that fail to connect with the listener either musically or thematically.
Virulence isn’t terrible, but it’s nothing special, which is frustrating considering the notable backgrounds of its members.
Owen Heitmann