If you're a faithful Buzzgrinder user you know that we haven't done official reviews since April, but that doesn't stop labels and bands from sending me CD's.

My latest "review" here is for The Reaction, who are now called the Stivs. My initial problem in reviewing such a CD is I am in no way an "avid listener" of this genre. I've never owned a leather jacket or listened to an entire Misfits album (though I will admit to owning a black denim jacket in my youth). In this my opinion on things like production is hardly valid. I just don't listen to enough of this type of music really give you a worthwile review.

But I can tell you that I like this CD. It's good background music for doing the dishes, cleaning your room, or driving on the highway trying to stay awake. This CD entertains me - that's its job.

And with the line-up you can be sure the musicanship is worthy to be archived in CD format. Confident vocals, guitars, drums, bass, production, etc. The entire package is professional from start to finish right down to the three-second movie clip at the end. The only quirk is Cliffy is wearing the same shirt in both of the insert pictures! I'm kidding, really, with that one, but it's something funny to look at.

Finally, when I opened the package it was nice to see a sticker on the shrink-wrap saying how the band has changed their name to The Stivs. While I already knew this it's nice to see a record label put fourth the effort (and the cash) to communicate with the potential record buyer.

So if you're a fan of that whole "punk rock" thing (and I don't mean sugary pop punk) then you should buy this. Do that now at Interpunk.com.