The guys from The Jawaz, out of Southern California sent in their latest single on Wolf on a Bridge Records. This four piece has been in and out of existence since long before facebook...or myspace for that matter. Grinding away in the punk scene out there on the west coast and on their latest sound like they're combining a lot of that catchy poppier punk sound with hard metal influences.
"Not for Me" starts their attack with a beefy thrash guitar sound, really tight and polished, Brian, on vocals is delivering this vocal in a rapid fire burst. Landing right on the end syllable right in time with this bassline in a combination of snotty Jello and that huge lower end focused Boston hardcore...like say Gang Green? But maybe that's just me, anyone's entry point in this genre can go a million different directions. They seem to find this complex verse melody that's beyond the usual couple of power chord at speed technique, and the inclusion of a screeching solo isn't showing off, they've just put in the time to work beyond those basics.
"Stand up" comes at this one fast and hard with even more power guitar lines, severely metal, working between the sustained distortion and barring that chord for the muted attack. Like the rest of the tracks on this, they're after the middle of the road, conformists. I was watching My Peristroika the other day, and we pretty much take these ideas for granted. The former USSR's citizens had a bitch of a time in the modern, well late '90s age of self reliance and not standing at attention when they played the national anthem....ON TV! The most well adjusted guy was...no surprise, part of an early now successful punk band. He was pissed that his buddies were selling out, working at banks....things never change. The Jawaz would go shot for shot with this guy at the kitchen table. "Stand up" sounds to me like pretty much written for the former soviet people of the late '90s...that's what I'm trying to say. It's silly to write off sounds like this coming from disenfranchised groups as just an outlet for pissed off kids (or now adults), it's an important statement. Maybe even more these days.
B-Side's "Modern Tragedy" goes for the darker bass line and measured huge chords, now that I'm thinking about this decidedly metal slant to these guys it's reminding me a lot of D.R.I., they rock through all kinds of changes to this rhythm, sliding between speed solo lines and straight up giant chords. This one is just on the edge of that punk/black metal era at points but they keep bringing it back around to the big chorus. Punk is never going away.
On black vinyl (mine came with a beer cozy which I have used) with scrawled lyrics on notebook paper insert from Wolf on a Bridge Records.
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