Album Review: Neighborhood Brats “Confines Of Life”
Band: Neighborhood Brats
Release: Confines Of Life
Label: Dirt Cult Records/Green Noise Records/Taken By Surprise Records
Score: 8/10
Neighborhood Brats – Confines of Life LP (pre-order)
One of the most underrated albums of 2018 was Claw Marks by Neighborhood Brats. The band’s sophomore album saw major shifts and improvements in the band’s sound and songwriting compared to 2014’s Recovery. The California punk rockers have followed up Claw Marks three years later with Confines Of Life where they have once again upped their game and taken some musical risks that rewarded them (and their fans) with big returns.
Neighborhood Brats have always been really good at mixing melodic punk and hardcore in all of their albums and Confines Of Life is now the pinnacle of that. The album starts out on the more melodic side with “Who Took The Rain” and later, “We’ll Find You.” “Who Took The Rain” features some of Jenny Angelillo’s softer vocals, which set a fairly melancholy tone for the beginning of the album. Between that and George Rager’s garage-rock sounding licks and riffs through out the track, it is one of the catches tunes on Confines Of Life.
The two hardcore tracks that truly stand out on this album are “Harvey Weinstein (Is A Symptom)” and “I Weep For The Future.” The timely “Harvey Weinstein (Is A Symptom)” is not just an aggressive social commentary, it shows just how awesome Neighborhood Brats can put together a song on hardcore side of the punk rock spectrum. This track is filled with Rager’s frantic guitar progressions and riffs. And between Angelillo’s masterful yelling and the swift, blasting drums, this track will get your heart racing quite a bit upon first listen. There’s no doubt that once shows fully come back, “Harvey Weinstein (Is A Symptom)” will get circle pits moving.
Interestingly, the band goes back to their roots in a way with an unexpected instrumental track called “All Nazis Must Die.” Long-time Neighborhood Brats fans may recall the instrumental track, “Escape The City“ from Recovery. Guitarist George Rager’s guitar skills shine in “All Nazis Must Die.” Believe it or not, the tune has a bit of a western vibe to it, mixed in with Rager’s “punk-meets-surf” riffs. It’s sort of in the same realm as PJ Russo’s guitar playing in Night Birds’ instrumental tunes. Nonetheless, the track breaks up the LP quite nicely.
Neighborhood Brats should have become a much bigger name within the punk scene after the release of Claw Marks. And now after the release of Confines Of Life there really isn’t any reason they should be as underrated as they have been. The songs on this album are catchy, fierce, unique, and a refreshing punch to the gut of the punk scene whether you like more melodic punk or hardcore or both. There’s no doubt that Confines Of Life is easily one of the best albums to be released in the first half of 2021.
Ricky Frankel is the author of the book I’m Outta Here!: A Collection Of Interviews & Anecdotes From The Punk Scene (2014-2018), which you can find on Storenvy and Amazon.
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About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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