Reviewed on May 4, 2008 by marnix

How amazing was their debut album Veni Vidi Vici? Seriously! Ya’ll need that record like your mom needs to bleach her moustache. That record is nothing short of a fuckin’ masterpiece. Even their follow-upper, Keep The Corpses Quiet, was an instant classic in my books. Also their signing to the BYO-family brought us an awesome record. I’m not that kinda guy that considers himself a ‘fan’ of anything (except for myself) but if I’d pick one band that totally changed my life I’d pick Michael Jackson… But! The Forgotten would definitely be in my top 10.

After their horrible little EP on Knock-Out records (what was up with that shit, guys?) it was quiet for quite a while. And I wasn’t really sad about it. So when I heard they were back with a new line-up and an upcoming record I didn’t know whether to be stoked or not. But I kinda was anyway and it turned out to be quite a cool record eventhough it didn’t touch me like 90s US streetpunk used to do.

Especially Gordy’s vocals still stand out. His gruff growling flirts with the likes of drunken beasts in heat. He kinda makes the band, but the guitar-work is fairly decent too. And while the overall sound might appear a bit stranded in time, most of these tracks are more than your average Joe streetpunkrock’n’roll. Its no classic, but a really good effort nonetheless. I don’t know if dropping a bomb like Veni Vidi Vici was even possible, but this is just great stuff that people into anything GMM or TKO did late 90s can appreciate. This might not sound all to positive, but anything that’s close to what Anti-Heros, Hudson Falcons, Ducky Boys, Sixer, Beltones and Terminus City did late 90s deserves praise.

So in conclusion: casually recommend for the curious to investigate, mandatory for the US streetpunk faithful, and a sure bet for those of us who already appreciated the great work of TKO over the years. The masters of US Streetpunk are back on the frontline and in the TKO-catalogue where they belong! Some things should never change.

Related Links:

• www.tkorecords.com

1. American Dreams
2. L V. R
3. Streets Of Despair
4. The Collector
5. Run For Shelter
6. We Will Not Be Damned
7. We Got The Numbers
8. When You Die
9. Poison Tongue
10. And The Flies Will Feast
11. Take Me
12. I Close My Eyes
13. Knife Edge
14. The Endless Parade

Album Reviews

The Forgotten Mar 1, 2008