Descendents Descend!
As opposed to Avengers Assemble it is time to launch off our collective couches and salute the coming of Punk’s very own celestial beings. The Descendents have returned to their roots on ‘9th & Walnut’ to bring us tunes that were written many moons ago, only to be finished recently and made available on this album.
A trip down memory lane, they remember the junction at which they practised and have lovingly immortalised it here. A seventeen song outing, it is fast, frenzied and cuddly and comforting at the same time. The sounds here are very Ramones and also The Damned circa Machine Gun Etiquette, absolutely for the faint hearted so that they may inject some much needed fuel in their lives. The pent up angst for over a year has been waiting for this record, so slap it on and absorb its glory.
These guys have been celebrating the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd from the heady days of the LA Punk scene; it is a fist in the face and a knee to the nether regions.
Each song has that discordant, unfinished, raw vibe as they are quite short and snappy, tailor made Punk for those who like their answers sharpish I’d say! The perfect stress relief mechanism, lift the lid and watch it explode into the ether. The proverbial ‘let’s go’ of Punk ends ‘Crepe Suzette’ four seconds later, showcasing the wit and energising prowess that this style of music generates. The enthusiastic and feisty Fandango continues with ‘Tired of Being Tired’ although ‘I’m Shaky’ I’ll still hold a ‘Grudge’ ‘To Remember’ you by.
The Descendents never disappoint, they are truth, courage and the voice of sanity and reason at a time when ours has been devoured by lockdown and all other monsters that keep us awake. The stellar Punk anthem ‘Mohicans’ is pure gold, oozing charm and scooping you into its charismatic arms, love it, love it, love it!
Singer Milo Aukerman leads the charge here, vehemently fighting off the opposition with their rambunctious, slightly loony tunes, take on the world, captured in titles like ‘Yore Disgusting’, ‘You Make Me Sick’ and ‘It’s My Hair’, through their eyes, everything seems a lot more bearable.
Buckle up babies, it’s a bumpy ride, but on the corner of 9th and Walnut you’ll be Punk in Drublic and you’ll be right at home.
Azra Pathan
The Descendents – 9th and Walnut out 23rd July via Epitaph Records.