Press releases are a wonderful thing, often more entertaining than the CD they’re actually describing. According to the blurb accompanying this 17-track album, National Razor are “a surly, uncontrived blend of the Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, the Beatles, Johnny Cash and the Clash. I hear National Razor as a thinking man’s punk band.” Which is a pretty grandiose statement. Oh, and a downright lie – because National Razor are pretty crappy.
Basic three-chord punk, terrible vocals and some of the worst recording I’ve ever heard does not make for “unexpected musical depth and sensitivity” as their bio suggests. And “Raw, live-to-two-track unpasterized analog, the band’s sound rips with all the delicacy of a rusty chainsaw” is just a polite way of saying “this is DIY, we know it sounds bad, sorry.” Still, this record is literally about 12 tracks too long, regurgitating the same socio-political themes and idealogies that any 15-year-old high school dreamer who’s anti-Bush could come up with.
Sonically National Razor do sound like a bad Ramones, which is all well and good if you like that kind of thing. And I know the recording is bad on purpose. But it’s just not my thing at all – and I truly believe there are a million bands who do this kind of thing better. Detractors of our reviews will probably claim we don’t know what we’re talking about, but good music is good music – and this just ain’t good music.