Defcon 4
File Under Fuck
4.4
I want to like this release but it isn’t really all that good. Any band that plays anything resembling old school hardcore punk is cool in my book, but this release is, in my opinion, too unfocused to qualify as worthy of recommendation. The riffs just aren’t especially catchy or memorable, making File Under Fuck disappointing on the whole. The band’s noisy, feedback-riddled exorcisms probably seem great in a live setting, but make for an unmoving experience when listened to on record.
The band come out the gate strong with some fast paced jams, but get bogged down in directionless, boring songs that make the album tedious. A lot of the material sounds like it wasn’t properly rehearsed or streamlined, and the vocalist’s overly enthusiastic performance soon becomes irritating.
This is a pretty amateurish recording, and there’s not a whole lot going for it. The production is decent, but the songs and musicianship are a bit sub-par. The band probably should have waited a year or so before releasing an album. As is, I can imagine that Defcon 4 might be capable of some pretty cool stuff down the line, but at the present, I would have trouble recommending this even to a genre enthusiast.
Related
Defcon 4The Bad Road
10/2/2007