Brunt of It – Certain Uncertainty (CD)

Mix a little Misfits, Vandals, Rancid and more together and individuals will get an idea of what Brunt of It! sounds like; there’s a little ska influence thrown it at the margins, but by and large this is a hard-nosed punk band through and through. Where there is probably no better entrance into the CD than “Blinded”, ‘Daddy’s Little Boy” seems to be a little embarrassing for the band. Brunt of It! has more than enough talent, but this is restrained heavily by the desire to put a specific message throughout the entirety of the track.

The track is still strong, don’t get me wrong, but it does not show the bombast that the band can come up with at any one given time on “Certain Uncertainty”. Throughout the rest of the CD, when the band does not venture into various message-laden songs the results are sterling; “Lithium Overdose” hits hard in regards to both the instrumentation and the compelling vocals that are the focal point of the track. When a band has been around since 1995, there is always a littlwe doubt that the band has really stopped creating new and fresh music; Brunt of It really shatter that idea with “Certain Uncertainty”. The next track that seems to have a heavy narrative context to it is “All That Money”; the results here are much better than “Daddy’s Little Boy” besides the fact that the vocals put a little kink into the natural flow of the track.

It is during “All That Money” where the band aligns themselves closer to The Vandals, but a Vandals that would have had to listen to metal much more than the Ramones.Most of the times, when a hardcore punk band has a heavily ska-infused track, the results are a grinding halt of the momentum that the band had been creating up to that point. Brunt of It! begins to end their “Certain Uncertainty” with “Anadonia”, a track that mixes ska music with the same assault that individuals are familiar with. Instead of stopping the flow of the disc, it merely modifies it to allow for listeners to continue listening in through the ending and for continual repeats. Always intense, Brunt of It! really show their chops with this album and put forth a strong case for why they maybe should be picked up by a more major label. If it was 1997, I would say Epitaph; nowadays I’m going to have to say that the band should be picked up by Fat Wreck.

Top Tracks: Blinded, Lithium Overdose

Rating: 7.5/10

Brunt of It – Certain Uncertainty / 2005 Brikhaus / 14 Tracks / http://www.bruntofit.com / http://www.myspace.com/bruntofit / Reviewed 17 February 2006

[JMcQ]