Album Review: Neighbourhood Brats - "Confines Of Life"

 

Hailing from San Francisco, the Neighbourhood Brats' name might suggest yet another Ramones style pop-punk band with their chiming guitars and fast rhythms but, be warned, if you're expecting another group of three-chord knuckleheads, you're in for a shock here. This is what happens, I'm guessing, when you feed the pop-punk mogwais after midnight...

There's a real righteous fury to Confines Of Life right from the way opener Who Took The Rain? rips out of the traps at full tilt with its chantalong chorus and political anger. The feminist fury of Miss America Pageant takes the intensity up another level with its jittery SLF style guitar underpinning the anger. Better still is Transitional Housing which marries a Dead Kennedys style lyrical fury with some chiming Steve Jones style guitars to lethal effect.

This certainly isn't a group who pull any punches as song titles like Harvey Weinstein (Is A Symptom), All Nazis Must Die (an instrumental as it turns out) and I Fear For The Future make abundantly clear but they're also blessed with an ear for a Ramones style catchy tune and riff mixed in with the old school GBH style punk fury. At the other end of the scale, Migraines (the longest track on the album at nearly four minutes) is all panic attack lyrics and spidery guitars and shows yet another side to this band's output.

It all makes for a pretty damn intoxicating brew and one of the best punk bands I've been introduced to in many moons (they've actually been going for over a decade now and rest assured I will be familiarising myself with their back catalogue in the weeks ahead). Similar to their British counterparts Dream Girls or Maid of Ace, this is female punk fury with an ear for a tune that's difficult to deny. 

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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