Trial By Fire

Being a punk band from DC has to have a certain amount of pressure attached to it. I mean you're inevitably going to be contrasted against other bands that hail from the capitol's two-decades-old scene, so to make your mark you'd better be doing something special. On their debut disc, Trial by Fire rise to the occasion with a record that not only hearkens back to the salad days of the Washington scene, where bands like Minor Threat, SOA and Government Issue ruled the 9:30 Club, it takes the angst and anger of Reagan-era punk and updates it for the re-Bush generation. Sounding like a cross between their DC forefathers, Avail (especially on "One Last Gasp”) and Dillinger Four, TBF tears through 11 tracks in 25 minutes with nary a second to catch your breath, just like the good old days.