Anyone picking up
the Slumlords eponymous debut simply for having cover artwork reminiscent of '80s hardcore heroes like
Agnostic Front and the
Crumbsuckers will not be disappointed. Admittedly,
the Slumlords are rarely as brilliantly inspired as those seminal giants of the genre (what did you expect?), nor are they as uniformly heavy, fast, and vicious at all times, but at least their motives are in the right place. Hence, although not exactly groundbreaking, album standouts like "Time to Drink" and "Ode to My Role Model" are competent enough to keep things interesting. Better yet, it's all over -- all 16 songs and a 30-second hidden track -- in less than 25 minutes, making it almost impossible to resist getting right back into the pit for another slam-fest. Fans may also want to note that
the Slumlords' singer is none other than former
Breakdown frontman Jeff Perlin, and his blue-collar lyrics about life's daily challenges and matters of communal strength and respect (ya know, the usual hardcore subjects) are as good as they come. All in all, this is a promising start for this new group. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia