Sacred Shock- You're Not With Us

(Residue Records, 2009)
I saw this in someone's distro for 5 or 6 bucks the other day.
I believe Sacred Shock, as a band, are responsible for a multi-format demo recording, a 7" proper, a split with Deskonocidos and this here LP. The band (post-Army of Jesus/pre-The Young, if we're speaking venerably) is still just as exhausting to me now as they were 4-5 years ago. Many bands have aimed for this end and they have missed in comparison. It's euro. It's Moto-. It's crusty as the Chihuahuan Desert (TEXAS FRIED). It's catchy a fuck because these RIFFS are singular. For any of the album's shortcomings (there are some), it more than overcompensates by offering riffs that you've never been presented with before. Not exactly, anyway...
Everything this band accomplished was done on the backs of forerunners, but who the fuck can be bothered by all that? If you destroy a painting yet admire the outcome, is that not still art? If you like punk music, then there will always be inalienable aspects of the form that can't be reduced. Accept that and appreciate what's being created before you. Or sit at home and grow bald with memories of the "glory days". Just don't ring me up.
MP