Subb

This Montreal power-punk-ska set wants to be Sublime so bad it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing for the listeners, because they can't help draw comparisons (unfavourably); it's embarrassing for the reviewer, because he has to sneer at a young band working hard; it's embarrassing for the band, because they are imitating rather than innovating; hell, it's even embarrassing for Sublime - and Brad Nowell's dead! The three or four songs (out of 19) that are shameless Sublime rip-offs (or tributes, depending on your point of view) are actually the highlights. The other 15 or so are standard teenage punk-ska fare that has become so very tired and brittle over the past two years. There is very little here that is new, original or noteworthy. Subb is, in a word, crap.