El Centro
““Alto””
(Finger Records)
A scattered rock band embracing the rock sound ranging from Bad Religion brand of punk rock flavor to the bar chord riffs with some lighter ska touched rock jams ala Sublime. The Southern California sound permeates El Centro (big surprise with a name like that, eh?). Must mention the Pennywise vibe in here somewhere to pay tribute to the whole range of sound El Centro embraces. Although its been done, El Centro did it pretty well again. The ska chinka chinka songs aren’t as strong as the numbers where they just pump on the riffs. Although the Clash spirit evoked in “Push” is solid enough and became a track I warmed to a lot after I gave the album a few listens. There’s 15 tracks and most have a decent personality with the husky vocals of “Crabbie” taking a charm of their own after they get more familiar. A bit scattered in sound as a whole release, but “Alto” should fit nicely into any SoCal skate rats collection.
