TSR

When you were 17 and booking shows in some tiny venue in your small, one-horse town, TSR were the band you wanted to headline. TSR (the Socially Retarded) mix a healthy dose of melody with some angry political lyrics and heart, and they do it well. Their only downfall is their relatively young age, which means they don’t have the benefit of experience to draw from. Despite all that, they manage to write some rockin’ tunes. Vocalist Ryan is better served when he lets loose and growls but for the most part, he is content to sing melodically, which means a lot of the songs lose their punch. The politics on this record are of the young punk rocker variety — a lot of passion but not much to back it up with. You can tell these guys have their hearts in the right place, they just need to pick up some serious literature and inform themselves a little more. This is a promising record for a relatively new band. It should be interesting to see where they take it from here.