Few And The Proud - Stampede

Few And The Proud
Stampede
Organized Crime Records
3/10




Few And The Proud pound out racous punk with slight metal overtones on Stampede. The band’s vocalist, Bernie, has a sort of pinchin’-a-loaf quality about his singing. It’s distinct, but sometimes somewhat painful to sit through. Musically, this act reminds me of a bunch of punks called Pnile Youth that used to open the local shows in the area, only a bit slower in certain points.

With bands like As I Lay Dying touting themselves as hardcore these days, it makes you wonder what you’re supposed to call a band like FATP. Hardcore, I guess. When you first lay eyes on the charging steers that grace this record’s cover, you may think you’re in for a lot of fast, unrelenting material, but what this is in a nutshell is sloppy, amateur punk that’s played with some measure of conviction, but not much expertise.

Surely, there’s oodles of underground bands with a lot of punk cred that have traveled a similar musical path, but none really come to mind immediately. The doomy riffing in certain tracks, for example “Absolute Truth” give this one just enough metal appeal to say tat a crossover crowd would be possible, if only these guys would try to kick a little more ass and not sound like they’re taking a dump in the process. While this stuff is not quite as heavy as poo-core, toilet rock will suffice to describe Stampede.


ERIN FOX © 2007 – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED