Rye Coalition

Lying somewhere between AC/DC, Motörhead and Fugazi, New Jersey's Rye Coalition plays balls out, hard rock'n'roll that cuts the shit and goes straight for the throat. Produced by Steve Albini, On Top, the band's third album, is intense and loud, but extremely fun. Lines like "We're gonna rock, we're gonna roll/Got to get the stank off my hang low/As Zep plays in the background," from the stomping "Hot Strikes," are good examples of what this album is about. Most of the record contains a rather light-hearted take on life, with songs titled "Heart of Gold, Jacket of Leather" and "Switchblade Sister: One Tough Nun," but that's what makes contemporaries like Tight Bro's From Way Back When and Nashville Pussy such a blast. Only the closer, "Honky, Please," stands out as the odd one in the bunch. An epic rock freak-out, à la Trail of Dead, the track goes on for nearly eight minutes, ending with the soothing sounds of a seagull, which is really the only way to end an album of this magnitude.