“Now I’m listenin’ to the Classics of Love in the day or night,” is what front man Jesse Michaels said in a Common Rider song that referenced Desmond Dekker, The Clash, and Ella Fitzgerald among others. If he were writing about his current band, he still couldn’t have been more right. The songs are fast and abrasive with poetic, witty, and socially charged lyrics that could only be rasped in Michaels’ voice. Not one song passes the three minute mark, which is a credit to the head-on intensity of the whole band. Having never heard The Hard Girls, I can’t tell you what they sound like without Jesse, but all four of them together make a nearly impeccable punk rock powerhouse.

Ska flirtations on “Castle in the Sky” and “Bandstand” are vaguely reminiscent of Operation Ivy, but have a hastened tempo and a distinct lyrical urgency that makes you glad it’s 2012 and not 1989. If you did come to this album expecting to hear Operation Ivy or Common Rider, I wouldn'tt say that you’d be disappointed, but your finger isn't on the pulse of this record. This is an album of pure passion; four guys who wanted to play loud punk rock music got together and did it. If you’re missing those skankin’ rhythms too much, put on a Common Rider album and kick back, but if you’re ready for a full-on twenty-two-and-a-half minute barrage of pulse pounding hardcore with a sound mind and heart, this is the band for you.