Authority Zero
“Andiamo”
(Lava)
Popular punk. Is that a feasible category for description? I think you know what I’m talking about. Mainstage Warped Tour punk. Catchy punk with lots of pop hooks. Cooler than Good Charlotte, but coming up short of NOFX. More punk than the Offspring but not as punk as Rancid. Faster than Bad Religion, but not as fast Guttermouth.
Some Rancid influences seep in on a couple of tracks with the ‘chinka chinka’ guitars, but mostly, this is upbeat, up-tempo quick shots of punk flavored rock. Complete with requisite “fuck society let’s start a revolution lyrics”. While all of that is fine and good, how many more bands like this do we need?
Hopefully, the kids can make room for one more as Authority Zero rocks well within its paint by numbers formulas. The songs are catchy, executed with passion and are hard to hate despite its complete lack of offering anything musically that hasn’t been mined a thousand ways previously. So what can a band like this do? Just write damn good songs and hope people have fun with it. Mission accomplished as “Andiamo” serves up track after track of punked up nuggets of guitar and vocal hooks.
“A Thousand Year War” does take some chances within its punk rock attacks showing Authority Zero stretching for some range. And hey, any band that shows respect to Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” gets points in my book. This is basically fun stuff. Go into this not expecting the second coming of punk and you should all have a good time. If you don’t, go stand in the corner because you don’t play well with others.
