The Brass – Mob Neutrality CD (Snatchee Records)

The Brass is a melodic punk rock band emanating from Portland, Oregon. For those who’re knee-deep into underground music, Portland represents the home for some of the finest punk rock bands. Just pick up any subgenre of punk rock, and you’ll discover a bunch of excellent bands hailing from that area. The latest offering to the broader audience by The Brass entirely proves my point. Mob Neutrality serves as a proper continuation of their debut album named Armsreach, which you should immediately check out. If you still doubt in the quality of The Brass, I should also mention they shared the stage with renowned outlets such as Strung Out, A Wilhelm Scream, Swingin’ Utters, Stiff Little Fingers, Get Dead, D.I., plus many many more.

Mob Neutrality offers seven profoundly melodic punk rock compositions enhanced by compelling skate punk and hardcore punk maneuvers, hearable throughout the entire recording. The Brass stands out from the vast sea of similar bands, mainly because of their ability to perfectly combine melodies and aggression into a unifying harmony. The hoarse lead vocals are offering a subtle harshness to the overall listening experience. However, these chants are also solely responsible for a pleasant dosage of aggression that pervades the ambiance during the complete material. Extraordinary guitar maneuvers are providing loads of various dualities that are fulfilling the atmosphere with remarkably emotive moments. Still, rhythm guitar maintains a bit of tightness through robust fast-paced riffages, while the lead guitar kicks in with appealing octave thematics and other virtuosities.

The bass guitar supports these guitars shreds by delivering enormously powerful basslines up to the table but also fulfills the gaps between intense rhythmical acrobatics and polyphonous melodies. Exceptional drumming performance surrenders enough dynamics to tear down everything in the broader radius but also holds the remaining orchestrations in line. The entire band appears as a singular operating mechanism more than ready to impress you with mind-blowing musicianship and loads of ear-appealing dynamics. With compositions like these, The Brass will not pass unnotified, and it’s nearly impossible to capture even the tiniest mistake. Mob Neutrality unavoidably resembles the sound of the renowned groups such as A Wilhelm Scream, Atlas Losing Grip, Satanic Surfers, Good Riddance, and A Vulture Wake. Nevertheless, The Brass are properly maintaining sound in their own distinctive manner.

Mob Neutrality comes on a compact disc, housed in a jewel case. The album follows an eye-peeling illustration of a couple spending the evening by being manipulated by the mass media. The cover artwork includes all the necessary info about the recording process and the complete lyric sheet. Please check out Snatchee Records for more detailed information about ordering. Make sure not to miss this one!