Virgins
Miscarriage
Kiss of Death Records
7/10
Okay, I have mixed feelings about this album. At times it sounds really mediocre and run-of-the-mill. However, it has enough shiny moments of genius mixed in to have me scratching my head about what to say. First of all, this is NOT The Virgins, the major label band who plays kind of new-wavy rock music (their album is quite good), but a punk trio from Florida featuring Sam Johnson from the much better named New Mexican Disaster Squad.
Sam’s vocals remind me a lot of Jason Shevchuk from None More Black and Chuck Ragan from Hot Water Music, which is a good thing in that both those bands are fucking awesome, but not so good in that it sounds a bit imitated. It shouldn’t be too surprising that a Florida punk band would sound like Hot Water Music anyway. Everything that has come out of Florida in the past 15 years sounds like them to some extent, from Against Me! to This Bike is a Pipe Bomb.
But I digress; the stand out track for me is number 7, “White Night.” The music composition, particularly the guitar, starts out rocky, but the lyrics are some of the best on the album (“White night/You’ll never know if this will be the night/That you were chosen to die/Jungle poison punch/Three-hundred dead by lunch”) and there is a great, melodic breakdown midway through the song that just seals it for me– this is a keeper. Speaking of lyrics, whereas some of the composition is a little shaky, Johnson is more than a decent lyricist. As with lots of punk rock out there, particularly bands without an expensive studio or producer behind their album, you can tell this material would be far more kickass live so support independent music and go see Virgins if given the chance.
–Luke Toney