A 'Bronx' Tale

The Bronx’s performance at Webster Hall on September 8 was extremely impressive. The band seamlessly blended Queens of the Stone Age’s groove with Black Flag’s hardcore sensibilities, resulting in a loud, melodic show. The energetic band, who reign from Los Angeles, were both potent and entertaining onstage, and served as perfect openers for Mastodon and Converge. Pleased at having found a great new band, I picked up a copy of their most recent effort, The Bronx, their major-label debut on Island/Def Jam.

The album opened with a fake instrumental and a quick thrasher, the total time of both tracks clocking in at under two minutes. Then at track three the album picked up, with James Tweedy’s chugging bassline leading into the frantic, fast-paced “Shitty Future.” Sounding like a Nick Oliveri-written QOTSA track, the song is indisputably the album highlight. The disposable lyrics are practically irrelevant—this is, after all a genre in which Lemmy Kilmister is at the forefront—and singer Matt Caughthran’s yelping delivery is more than enough to compensate.

The rest of the album is not as good as it should be—the first half features too may throwaways, and the second half loses steam quickly. Running at just over 30 minutes, there’s not enough killer to overcome the filler. Cliched lyrics and stolen riffs can work wonders in rock n’ roll, but they bog down Bronx songs like “Safe Passage” and “White Guilt” leaving the listener with a bad taste. “Transsexual Blackout” and “Rape Zombie” aren’t nearly as good as their names indicate, and much of the time the band sounds as if they don’t know whether to stay true to their hardcore roots or make an accessible major label album. One or the other would be fine, but for now the band sounds confused.

The Bronx is definitely a kicking live act, and part of that may have stemmed from beefing up their sound to be a more appropriate opener for Mastodon and Converge. But until they bring that focus to their records, they won’t be turning heads the way their headliners have been.