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SACK

Ripper!

Written by: PP on 03/01/2023 11:59:44

SACK is a band based in Denver that features Kody Templeman, the guitarist from Teenage Bottlerocket and The Lillingtons. The best way to describe their sophomore album "Ripper!" would be to imagine what it would sound like if Bottlerocket made an album together with Municipal Waste. Indeed, we're knee-deep in a bongy, boozy, metallic take on no-frills punk rock and its light soundscapes. It's a much heavier take on the Bottlerocket-style über-tight guitars and their breakneck speed tempo, with ideas and inspiration clearly drawn from crossover bands.

Opener "I Hate The Beach Boys" is a great example. It's an aggressively laced punk rocker about how much Kody apparently dislikes The Beach Boys. It's lighthearted, of course, but is delivered with a vicious sonic assault that feels like it borrows from thrash metal's intensity in the process. "Night Shift", on the other hand, is pretty much like a Bottlerocket song, whereas "I Used To Give A Shit" is a catchy piece that should get circle pits going. Both songs are incredibly simple but feature rich bass lines, solid guitar riffs, and catchy vocals in the process. A song like "Dark Alley" is likewise a good example: it rips through with considerable aggression with nearly screamed vocals, but yet feels like a heavier skate/pop punk song in the process.

Overall, "Ripper!" is fairly similar to a Teenage Bottlerocket album. Its high-flying tempo and consistently tight instrumentation are enough to make that connection right away. It also means it's a record that feels unvaried because it is non-stop shredding with clean-ish vocals throughout, ranging from catchy to merely interesting. In that sense, its title is actually a perfect description of its contents: rapid-fire punk with fragments of metal splattered across the record. It's good, but if you compare it to "They Came From The Shadows", the latter is the album you'd pick every time. Still, "Ripper!" is a solid example of no-frills punk rock that will be lapped up by all Bottlerocket fans, at least.

Download: "I Hate The Beach Boys"; "Live, Laugh, LARP"; "I Used To Give A Shit"; "Dark Alley"
For the fans of: Teenage Bottlerocket, Municipal Waste, Descendents, The Murderburgers, The Lillingtons
Listen: Facebook

Release date 10.06.2022
Red Scare Industries