With myriad punk poseurs in the current music scene, it’s a pleasure to hear an album that recalls the glory days of the musical form. Only Crime’s new record Virulence is such an album, and it is replete with sonic highpoints that reach the stratosphere.
Only Crime is another in a series of punk side projects released on Fat Mike’s Fat Wreck Chords. It features Russ Rankin (Good Riddance) on vocals, the incomparable Bill Stephenson (Descendents, All, Black Flag and about a 1000 other bands) on drums, Aaron Dalbec (Bane, Converge) on guitar, Zach Blair (Hagfish, GWAR) on other guitar, and Donivan Blair (Hagfish) on bass. As with their first album To the Nines, they create brilliant dissonance on Virulence with a vocal wallop that will floor you as quickly as a punch from Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Only Crime reminds me of much of the work on West Coast punk pioneer Greg Ginn’s SST label. A close comparison would be early All, and on some songs, a Keith Morris/Dez Cadena led Black Flag. Of course, Virulence is also heavily influenced by the groups’ main projects but for the most part, this is a tribute to the heyday of West Coast punk, when bands like The Germs and later X reigned supreme in Los Angeles. But Only Crime doesn’t stop there. Throughout the album, you can hear many influences interweaving with the punk, including a bit of avant-garde jazz a la Ornette Coleman, some of the experimental work of Robert Fripp and King Crimson, and the brooding rock of Black Sabbath.
Rankin is clearly in charge here, spitting lyrics out at 500 miles per second to keep up with Stephenson’s relentless ninety beats per minute. Donivan Blair plays some of the chunkiest bass parts imaginable, and brother Zack and Dalbec rip through guitar parts like Neil Young on crank. The performances are generally outstanding, but above and beyond the call snot on this album include “Everything for You”, the heavily political “Now’s the Time”, “This is Wretched”, and “Too Loose”.
Best of all, the record was produced at The Blasting Room in Ft. Collins, Colorado, which is quickly becoming the place for punks to record. Punk bands producing records in the hi-tech haven of Ft. Collins—who’d have thunk it?
Whether you’re new to punk, or a decrepit degenerate like me, Virulence will have you on your feet and slam dancing in no time. It’s pretty early in the year to say this is among the best punk albums of 2007, but I have no doubt it will be on a lot of ‘classics’ lists by December. It will likely appear on yours as well.
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