Review: Subincision

Subincision
“Jingo”
(Substandard Records)

The cover of Subincision’s latest album shows a dead soldier draped over a barbed wire fence with the phrase “He knew the meaning of sacrifice” written below it. I expected these guys to be angry, screaming and violent. Instead they are upbeat, poppy and fun. At least most of the time. “1983 teenage car crash” plays with eighties synthesizer sounds and is the catchiest tune on
the album. It stays upbeat and happy while singing about teenagers in car crashes. Just like Sublime singing about popping caps while smiling and skipping around. The album is pretty standard Subincision, taking no leaps and bounds from the music they have created in the past. But they haven’t gone down hill at all. Their CD case has gotten flashier, but their sound has remained raw, like a mix of old Blink-182 (pre tattoo drummer boy) and The Living End. These guys, however, pull off the fun of poppy punk and skankin’ beats better than any of the mainstream bubble-gum punkers in the music world. Subincision! Keeping the scene alive!