Posted on: January 1, 2012 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Shook Ones really come out of left field for bands that are on Revelation; this snotty style of straight-forward punk rock is done with the utmost care, with more than a little hint of Rancid to be found during the 7-inch’s opening track “Slaughter of the Insole”. There is also a more than healthy helping of Fat Mike’s vocals that make it onto the track, which makes for a track that seems well-versed in the nineties punk rock from whence it came.

The mixture of different instruments on the track, as well as innovative arrangements really allow listeners to not just fall back on older albums. In fact, Shook Ones may just be the revitalizing force that punk needs; “So Grown Up” brings the band down to Florida, with the hyper-emotional vocals during the track seeming to have more in common with acts like Against Me! The all-together, blazing-fast tempo of the track mixes acts like Rise Against and Strike Anywhere into the mix. The vocals are pretty much the only thing of the Shook Ones to resist whole-scale change in this follow-up track; individuals will know it is the same band through the high quality of the output that confronts them. Finishing up this slab of vinyl with “Not A Day Goes By”, Shook Ones do a trip back across the states and take a page out of the Face to Face playbook with crisp yet insightful guitars and almost a Ten Foot Pole type of narrative. These three blasts are perfect for introducing the band to a larger audience; this may just be the least pretension and most honest punk rock to come out in the last few years.

Much like (what I consider a similar act) in I Live With Zombies, Shook Ones really connect the listeners to themselves in such a way that individuals can even envision Shook Ones playing in a garage or at a party somewhere. This sincerity, coupled with absolutely insane instrumental talent, makes this 7 inch a must-have as well as showing Shook Ones as a band that needs to be followed. There is nothing on this disc that is going to make individuals say that Shook Ones is a band that is on the cutting edge of experimentation, but the band is as close to an ideal form of punk as practically any other band has been in the last ten or fifteen years.

Top Track: Not A Day Goes By

Rating: 7.2/10

Shook Ones – Slaughter of the Insole 7” / 2006 Revelation / 3 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/shookones / http://www.revhq.com / Reviewed 16 February 2006

[JMcQ]

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