By Deuce

Throw on the Punk Not Dead EP from Spike Polite & Sewage, which just touched down on January 15^th, when you’re just getting out the bed. Or just getting off work. Or when the weekend’s finally arrived.

In any of those scenarios or more, this four-song, forceful collection of cuts is rousing, raising adrenaline and romping about with a rancor, at times, that does the musicians credit, the genre of punk that they’re championing the same, and entirely edifies the listeners.

Two of the tracks don’t even hit the 30-second marker, let alone the minute milestone. The other two clock in shy of two minutes. But, best believe that perhaps the most bracing tunes on here are the former, which include “Twitter is a Death Machine Promo Edit” and “twitterisadeathmachine”.

In fact, “deathmachine” appears to be a reprise of “Twitter” and, because the tunes are so short, that’s not a bad thing. The cuts clocks in at circa 120 BPM. The bass is tight, rippling, yet as vociferous as one might wish. And the electric guitars are out of here, conflagrations in the making, whirling and twirling and scorching everything they come near, let alone touch.

Plus there’s the hook, which is the title of the respective numbers (which is the same) that’s repeated ad nauseam. Perhaps the pair is seeking to hypnotize, or send a message to the minions of social media handlers and one of their most ubiquitous mediums.

There’s a marked similarity between the final two numbers, “punknotdead” and “whathappened” in terms of the up tempo pace, ineffable electric guitars, and the verve of the vocalist. “punk”, however, is characterized by an unusual percussive snare that’s obviously programmed and a welcome break from the live drums that are on the rest of the affair. Moreover, it simply sounds good.

The major distinction between these two tracks is the drums and the singing. The drums are played played live on “whathappened”, and whoever hit those cue sticks definitely knows a thing or two about the subject.  But there’s also bona fide singing on this one, as in a verse, if not more than one verse, that isn’t found on the rest of the tracks.

Only time will tell how Polite and Sewage will follow up this outing. It should be worth the wait.