What do you get if you take four guys who work at the offices of Fat Wreck Chords and put them in band? Well, in this instance you get Western Addiction, a group formed from a love of punk music, and from being involved in the scene for a good while. ‘Cognicide’ is the band’s debut full-length and, funnily enough, is released through Fat.
Western Addiction play a brand of hardcore that has its roots deeply embedded in the early 80’s, a time before hardcore merged with metal to create the genre we see today. ‘Cognicide’ is full of two minute bursts of energy, songs full of heavy bass lines and strained vocal chords. There are many positive things to enjoy on the album. Tracks like ‘Charged Words’, ‘Face Cancer’ and the obvious tribute ‘The Church of the Black Flag’ are honest and decent, if a tad unimaginative, punk rock songs – something that kind of sums up the whole album. The only real let down here is that for a band that do show intelligence in their lyrics and subject matter, they actually have very little to say; choosing to skirt round topics, rather than tackling them head on.
That said though, for a re-imagining of a classic sound, Western Addiction do a solid job. Whilst this isn’t an album that will change your life, ‘Cognicide’ is worth a listen or three.
Mark
