Wretch Like Me

It almost seems criminal that one label should monopolise the market when it comes to exciting and consistent dedication to aggressive melodic punk. But that's just what O&O Records, the label run by the ALL guys out of their secret mountain lair, has done. No further proof is needed than these two most recent releases from a pair of bands that are not only pushing the envelope when it comes to the conventions of punk rock while remaining true to the genre's ethic, but are hacking it open with a machete, pissing in it, re-sealing it and mailing it first class to your sorry ass. WLM's third disc - an album that almost never was after singer Abe Brennan was diagnosed with brain cancer a couple of years back - is a whirling dervish of old-school West coast punk, metal and clever as shit lyrics that defies pigeonholing. And don't forget to stick around at the end for a hysterical prank phone call, in which a Lutheran inquires about an apparent automobile sacrifice. The sophomore release from Someday I, meanwhile, is no less intense and brutal but is more akin to the Midwestern gut-rock of bands like Hum and Shiner. Their refusal to play by the rules when it comes to rhythmic and melodic structure is as refreshing as it is rebellious.