------Angry For Life - CD
This CD contains many expressions of rage, discontent and concerns for the future. Most of them are steeped in the frustrating reality of today.(The one exception being "Cold Northern Wind" which seems to be about a D&D style battleground of magical races) Angry For Life play Reagan era hardcore with a slight melody and poppy edge. It is generally solid and well played, but unfortunately the recording lacks energy at times. Some of the songs on here have great musical parts, so this one shows promise for the next time.
Lisa Oglesby
------Heartattack #37 February, 2003

-----Angry For Life - CD
Hooray for San Jose-based bands! Angry For Life is easily one of my personal favorite local bands. I have loved them from there previous incarnation as Krupted Peasant Farmerz. I've gotta say, they have quite the knack for naming there bands. I think this CD shows there maturity, although if you saw these guys, I don't know that the word maturity could safely be used.

Angry For Life retains some of the Krupted Peasant Farmerz sound while singing more evolved lyrics. Although I do miss the days of the old band when they'd sing such classics as "Cows Are Humping"

Angry For Life plays punk music with themes that only they can relate to. That shouldn't stop anyone from hopping on the fan bandwagon, y'know before they become sellouts. Which I trust confidently that this band won't be. They're to cool for that.

"War Of Beliefs" and "1984" are songs that make this CD worth listening to one hundred plus times. One drawback would be the frequent use of rhyming lyrics. This isn't high school poem for creative writing class, guys.
- Alison Foley
-----Zero Magazine March 2003

-----Angry For Life - CD
This band is composed of ex-members of KRUPTED PEASANT FARMERZ and Red#9, but sounds like a second-rate BAD RELIGION. I must admit, that once I found out who was in the band I was disappointed that this CD wasn't better. It just has no spark, and that isn't good. (Floyd)
-----Maximum Rocknroll March 2003

A friend of ours wrote Floyd about our unjust review and this is what he said.

Now normally I would just discard you in the waste that is San Jose, but I actually believe you have a valid point. While I still don't think that the CD is that good, I do believe that your sound is a lot more complex than I give it credit for. As far as my ability to review records, i think it is fine. CD's on the otherhand...
Sincerely,
Floyd
"making fun of San Jose for over a decade now"

Angry For Life - Shakin’ in my Boots 7"
Angry For Life’s bio says “we play fast melodic hardcore/punk”and it goes on to list influences like Minor Threat, The Misfits, and Social Distortion. The latter influence can definitely be heard on the title track, an ode to a drunken cowboy very akin to the late period Social D. stuff and Mike Ness’ solo projects. The band is definitely melodic though not always that fast. They do well at narrowly avoiding being a cheesy, SoCal punk band by adding gruff heartfelt vocals and somewhat serious lyrics. Catchy songs played with heart about compost piles of humans, stupidity in religion, and stupidity in capitalism. - Lew Houston
Jersey Beat - Winter 2003

Angry For Life – Shakin’ In My Boots 7”
Angry For Life plays melodic punk with a depressed tone. While the songs have an upbeat tempo and some definite rock, they ooze with pessimistic lyrics, downtrodden emotions, and a desperate edge. That gives them a typically Bay Area pop sound which I enjoy; miserable and sweet all at once. Though the songs lack a certain punch to make them especially good, I liked this record. With enough repetition, these songs sink into you and fit like a pair of old Converse. Run down but just right. LO Heartattack #40

Angry For Life – Shakin’ In My Boots 7”
Angry For Life is a dark, melodic hardcore band from San Jose that includes three ex members of Krupted Peasant Farmerz with female backing vocals. Their vinyl debut is fantastic, with a heavy Scandinavian influence absent from K.P.F. recordings. Definitely a band to watch for.
(AE) Punk Planet #60

Angry For Life - Sharks and Roaches CD
Locals rejoice, San Jose finally has a kick ass punk band to call its own. Certainly, Sick Of It All and other lesser known local acts have their merits, but Angry for Life's first full length release "Sharks and Roaches" kicks their asses takes their lunch money
and calls their moms whores. Thats right punk rockers put up your hawks and take to
the streets because San Jose isn't just for computer geeks anymore.
Sharks and Roaches displays how to perfectly blend melodic and hardcore punk rock. Angry For Life stays away from wussy-corporate-pop garbage without going into the realm of uber-core, unstructured gutter punk. It is simply satisfying Nor-Cal punk that goes from the slightly political "Smash Your Car and Use Your Feet" to heathily violent "Dirt". which features lines like "Cuz if you make me angry, I'll cut your fucking throat". You can't be punk without threatening people and caring about the environment a little bit at the same time, and AFL knows this.
The next time you see AFL playing live at the Blank Club or the Caravan, get your ass in there, buy a CD and a t-shirt and support San Jo punk rock while you can. There is not much of it here, and AFL is the best punk rock the Silicon Valley has to offer.
-Owen Ray Zero Magazine June/July 2004

ANGRY FOR LIFE- ‘SHARKS AND ROACHES’ CD
I know this band from the ‘How’s My Driving?!’ SuperSpeedway Music
compilation that our band was on too and I really liked them from that so
it’s great to be hearing a full-length. It tough yet melodic and great paced
kind of in between punk and hardcore. Although there’s melody, there’s a
sinister edge too and that really works. I recommend this a lot.
No Front Teeth webzine

ANGRY FOR LIFE
SHARKS AND ROACHES
VINEHELL PRODUCTIONS
Angry for Life's SHARKS AND ROACHES screams out with passion from the opening guitar riffs of "Ashes" and doesn't stop until the album is over. With this album, you get straightforward punk rock filled with social and political commentary. The band keeps things interesting with tempo changes throughout. There are also a few slower songs, such as "High Life". My only real complaint about this album is some of the vocals. When a band showcases two singers, you tend to lean towards one or the other. It just so happens that I like one of the singers better. It has nothing to do with the band's abilities, though. This is a very solid and enjoyable record-never mind of my personal preferences.
-Dane Jackson/

Skratch Magazine

Angry For Life "Sharks and Roaches"
The quartet consisting of brothers Rob and Dave Fraser, Michelle Budziak on bass-guitar (she played in Red #9 before) and Gary Tinney the drummer (H.B.A./Krupted Peasant Farmer). It is their second album, quite allowing to create high-grade opinion of the band.
At once the interesting combination of rigidity typical for modern "traditional" punk-bands and energy with melody in a spirit of Lawnmower Deth, without any curtseys to pop-punk or something similar is evident. Amusing, sometimes simply strange texts ("Smash Your Car and Use Your Feet" - the American group calls us!) sing by vigorous, pure voices with powerful choruses in refrains. (The song
"Angry For Life" would honour any old-school-band!!!)
A qualit album. In my opinion, it would be necessary to add some madness (as in the strangest song "Sharks and Roachers")...
Pavel Baleevsky
po box 654, Volgograd
400065 Russian Federation
www.realart.narod.ru

Whiskey Sunday – s/t CD
Vigorous melodic punk rock that is much better than the cover art (an appropriation of the Jack Daniels label…..done to death, fellas) would lead anybody to rightly expect. They’re from So-Cal, but they remind of a few great recent Chicago bands. The Mushuganas and Pegboy spring to mind
(JC) Punk Planet #60

Whiskey Sunday – CD
The cover art looks like a bottle of Jack Daniels….I don’t normally go for this kind of stuff, but Whiskey Sunday puts so much rocking energy into these songs you have to give them props. The play dirty punk with a serious rock n roll edge. Catchy riffs, blistering harmony, and a solid beat are all throughout this CD. I hear Misfits influence in a lot of these songs and that makes me dig the “whoas” and “yeahs” more than usual. The only real problem with this CD is the song “Wretch”. You’d think that in this day and age songs about girls you don’t like would at least have a better delivery if you don’t want to come off as a misogynist.
Lisa Oglesby Heart Attack #40

Whiskey Sunday – “Thanks 4 The Violence” CD
I love this CD…have listened to it constantly since I first got a copy, half a year ago or so. The album is choke-full of perfectly written punk songs, really melodic ones that bring to mind Leatherface, Ramones, Naked Raygun and Bad Religion. Perfect guitar leads over great anthemic punk songs. Their singer, Dover, has the best, gruffest voice I’ve heard. The only downfall of this CD is that at the time they had a lead guitarist who inserted pretty wretched metal guitar solos into the songs. I think he’s gone now. A great drunken live band to boot. Simple enough layout with some photos, works fine. So many hits on this album.
(WR) MRR #247

WHISKEY SUNDAY- S/T CD
This is rock punk as opposed to punk rock. Great guitar lines and vocals and
a really nice feel to the whole thing, it’s not like much else AI can think
of and I don’t want people to get the wrong idea when I say ‘rock’- I keep
thinking that people are imagining them looking and sounding like POISON or
something- get that right outta yer head!! This ain’t nuthin like that! This
is just singalong rockin’. I can get a slight hint of ANTiSEEN in there but
it’s very subtle, I can’t quite put my finger on it… but it’s rock in the
same vein that they are rock
No Front Teeth webzine

Whiskey Sunday - Whiskey Sunday (Ancestor / Vinehell)

Immediately upon listening to Dover’s voice belting out “Thanks 4 the Violence,” I was reminded of John Reis from The Hot Snakes. The triple guitar attack, clever lyrics, and well-written punk songs keep the comparisons coming to the legendary writer/producer (Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From the Crypt). Laying in wait for a long overdue Hot Snakes album, this Whiskey Sunday discovery has been the elixir to get me through the hard months.

The songs are quick and easily digested, most of them lasting about two minutes. There’s an obvious Ramones tribute with “What the fuck got in my wall?” Maybe a rat died and stank up his apartment. Who knows, but the chorus rings like Joey Ramone doing the Beach Boys. Running a tight one minute fifty eight seconds, don’t blink before the stinky times move on to “Mary Jo.”

My favorite track was buried deep in the CD. “Rogers Park” has the lyrical content of early Misfits, telling a girlfriend that he had a dream. “Last night I had a dream your head was buried/ I saw your name in the obituary.” The song length and guitar chops are a little longer and crispier, playing off the grandfathers of graveyard ghoul without stepping on their coffins.

The second track on their debut, self-titled album is titled “Westward Bound.” I can almost hear the sold out shows chanting along with Dover, “I’m on my way! Do you wanna know why?” The drummer, Ken, shows off some great variations on an old theme, keeping time and making the listener guess along the way. The guitar solo on “Westward Bound” shreds as much as any delivered by Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age.

The last song has a sing-a-long Pennwise vibe to it as the band joins in “Equalizer.” I don’t know what it’s about, but who cares? These guys are so underground, All Music Guide doesn’t even have a biography listed for them yet. Get on the cool punk train now and check out Whiskey Sunday before they get on tour with Bad Religion and everyone else finds out about them.

By Alan Haworth

Stanky Groove webzine

Whiskey Sunday s/t CD
Daring punk-rock in execution of five, not so young already Americans. A successful combination of strength and melodism: I remind examples of
Leatherface, Naked Raygun and even late Ramones. Texts do not cut eyes with sharp social orientation, and narrate mostly about women, booze and other important things about which it is so cool to shout in all power of low hoarse voice. If to add some sensitive rock'n'roll it would be very similar to Devil Dogs, and if to add humour and self-irony we would receive Meatmen. By the way, this disk - release ? 1 in catalogue of Vinehell Records!
Pavel Baleevsky
po box 654, Volgograd
400065 Russian Federation
www.realart.narod.ru

Various Artists - To the Bitter End (Vinehell)

I got a flyer from a dude on a skateboard the other day. He wore a green Mohawk and carried a purple bandana in his pocket. His band was playing at the House of Suffering in Boston. After driving around all night, looking for this hidden basement, I finally found a group of like-minded punks filing out of a car. I followed them into a demolished shit-box house and rickety, broken stairs. Whiskey bottles, cat shit and refuse lined the walls of the unfurnished basement walls which were spray painted with Anarchy symbols and band names. Local favorites Blodwulf got thirty minutes into their set before the cops broke in and arrested a bunch of us. The underground punk scene dispersed back into their caves for the rest of the night, only to plan another impromptu punk show for the next weekend.

If this is the type of scene you are into, then check out the new compilation from Vinehell Records, To the Bitter End. Thirteen different countries are represented on this amazing compilation of various artists who share one trait – punk rock. The indie punk credibility drips off this plastic case like ooze from a festering sore.

Whiskey Sunday kicks off the antics with “Joe Q Citizen,” a modern day send-up to the Misfits. If you’re looking for something more akin to the grindcore scene (Soulfly, Bolt Thrower) then check out Los Dryheavers singing “Ojo Por Ojo,” loosely translated as “an eye for an eye.” In less than two minutes, they will blow you away.

Juggling Jugulars, hailing from Finland, push the energy out through the speakers like the Dickies, but the singer’s voice pitches high like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). It’s an odd combination that might take some strength for the listener to get through an entire album.

My favorite stuff was the German bands – Legal Kriminal, Popperklopper and Rasta Knast. They all play punk as if it were invented in their homeland. Even though I don’t understand the lyrics to “Horrorskop,” I get the point from the headstock of their guitars, chopping through the air. The disc comes with a lyric sheet printed in English, but I’m going to pretend I don’t know that “Horrorscope” is about.

One of the annoying songs was “Marionett” by Frost (Sweden). They repeat the chorus over and over, as if they don’t have anything else to say. At first I thought it was a Mexican or Spanish band, but surprise, they’re from Sweden. Just didn’t work for me. I have no love for the marionette.

Angry For Life stands out as a possible commercial success story like Green Day, Good Charlotte, or MXPX . I don’t mean that as a diss, it’s just that their title track is well-tailored, cleanly produced, and easy to enjoy. There’s nothing dissonant or jarring about it.

There’s a lot more bands to check out than the ones mentioned here. It will take you a while to digest all of the music on this comprehensive sampler, but it’s going to be worth your time. I suggest rushing to the Vinehell Records website and ordering a few copies of this disc for you and your friends. Then head out at night looking for the underground rock shows, lurking in the shadows.

By Alan Haworth
Stanky Groove webzine

Various Artists
To The Bitter End:
International Punk Hardcore Compilation
(Vinehell, 2004)

In cities all over America, there are countries featuring young people who like to play loud, fast, political, shouting, old school hardcore punk. Many will argue that Punk Is Dead, but those people are jealous unhappy ASSHOLES. Something is only dead if nobody is into it anymore (like a corpse), and plenty of people all over society and the cosmos enjoy fast violent music to slam dance to. So Up The Academy of so-called big shooters who think they can take away my right to shout "Oi!" and grow my hair into a mohawk while using nothing but strength of will to keep the sides from growing in.

And that's the message of this 29-song compilation, which features bands from the USA, Estonia, UK, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Finland, Russia, Israel and some place called Slovakia which I think is between Canada and the USA. Can you believe that such a genre of clarity and longevity has continued to rile the impassioned children of so many earthly spots of today? I do -- and CAN! This is fast hardcore punk -- no fratboy pop-punk or modern screaming rap-metal. Buy it, love those simple riffs and be pleased that there are still bands out there with controversial names like This Is My Fist, Crispy Nuts, Juggling Jugulars and Los Dryheavers. For without them, who would provide such incendiary tracks as "Sweet Fireball," "Dreams of Fire," "Fireflies" and "Fire"? That's right -- NOBODY!

Who's that? Jimi Hendrix? No, I've never heard of them.

Citizine

V/A_TO THE BITTER END: INTERNATIONAL PUNK HARDCORE COMPILATION
VINEHELL PRODUCTIONS
The title of this compilation pretty much says it all-but I'll do my best to elaborate. A hefty 29-track collection of various punk and hardcore bands from around the globe, TO THE BITTER END is a smorgasbord of like-minded punk acts all doing their part in trying to up the collective system. It's comforting to know that two-minute songs about hating cops, the government, and good old-fashioned self-deprecation seems to be a universal concept. Maybe it's not such a small world, after all?
-Matthew Siblo

(Skratch)

V/A "To The Bitter End - International Punk/Hardcore Compilation"
The compilation of 29 punk-hardcore-bands made by Rob Fraser - chief of the label Vinehell Records and participant of Angry For Life. The geography amazes with it's breadth: the USA, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Slovakia, Israel, Brazil, Finland, Mexico, Australia and even Russia not often met on the western labels (I won't tell you - who it is!!!). Rather equal disk in the musical contents - all songs (generally, there is a selection!) represent fast, hit punk-hardcore without maneuvers to metal or pop-punk. There is some ska that is already much nowdays. I was impressed by: Konflikt - Slovakia, a sad accordion and mood songs (with lovely slavic vocal). Crispy Nuts - mad punk with female vocal. Barny from Incognito Records likes such bands!!!Estonian Psychoterror - aggressive punk-n-roll forcing down from legs! (I recently have downloaded in SoulSilk a heap of early Estonian punk! Envy me!).An excellent design of the disk: except for all texts translated into English language, there are also contact addresses and Internet-pages of each band.
Pavel Baleevsky
po box 654, Volgograd
400065 Russian Federation
www.realart.narod.ru

CHURCH OF THE SATURDAY SAINTS - LONGBOARDER 7"
This reminds me of the No Idea sound- folk/punk, acoustic and electric guitars combined and melody and explosiveness amalgamated and it’s a style I really go for. Terrific songwriting and delivery, especially with the vocal lines and it’s all kind of unpredictable in a great way. It’s like a controlled attack communicated very stylishly. Poetically. The songs are nice and short which I also love and all four songs on here rule. I’m really
impressed with this throughout- I like the band name, the artwork is very interesting and the music is remarkable. Really fucking cool debut release and I’d love to hear a full-length from these guys.
Vinehell Records
www.vinehell.com

Marco / No Front Teeth
===

CHURCH OF THE SATURDAY SAINTS - LONGBOARDER 7"
It's simple and direct acoustic punk lead by a burlap voice, all very enjoyable. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, that punk rockers are the perfect candidates to pick up where country lost its way in the late 50's and early 60's. The DIY punks I know will play anywhere, anytime, just for the love of it, and there's a support system developing on those terms alone. They don't need a lot of fancy equipment. They aren't concerned with getting their songs in toothpaste commercials. There's a lot to be said of being able to roll into any town, finding a porch, a park, or a basement and playing to anyone who's around and Church Of The Saturday Saints totally hit that vibe.

Todd Razorcake