The Living End
Roll On
Reprise

Green Day changed the definition of punk with the release of Dookie. The angry face of punk had now been transformed in the public eye to a face of warm, goofy, childlike innocence. Never mind that Green Day wasn’t really playing punk rock, but more of a harder edge form of pop music that was based on punk riffs and the shout singing that Johnny Rotten and Joey Ramone made famous. The homogenization of punk fared well for the wallets of the record companies as well as the bands creating the music, but the tradition and spirit of punk rock was crudely defaced in the process. In the same ballpark, there was Rancid. Being rooted in the Oi! Punk genre gave Rancid more credibility and offered a reasonable alternative of the same beast, but the ultimate outcome was the same: Punk is now family friendly.

Roll On, the second proper LP release from Australian trio, The Living End, lands somewhere between the fresh faces of Green Day and the angry commercialism of Rancid. It’s hard not to listen to the mixture of jangley, sentimental riffs and power chords on a track like, "Riot On Broadway", and not feel that this is meant for an audience of commercial radio fans. That said, Roll On cannot be perceived as a peer band to Crass or Fear. But, when put back to back against the world’s Blink 182’s and Green Day’s, The Living End is a pretty good listen and definitely shows more teeth and promise than that of their contemporaries.

Songs like the title track and "Pictures in the Mirror" compel the Green Day comparison, but one noticeable difference is that the lyrics are more aggressive and don’t sound like the soundtrack to the season finale of ER. Cheney can write about social issues without hamming it up or sounding contrived. The title track, "Roll On", is a poignant story about an underpaid dockworker in Melbourne. A pleasant change from the pointless drivel the radio usually offers up.

Bouncy pop tunes do show up on the album, but luckily it doesn’t engulf the sound of Roll On. "Dirty Man" and "Pictures in the Mirror" are two good examples of songs that could’ve corroded TLE’s sound, but songs like "Don’t Shut The Gate" and "Revolution Regained" come in at the perfect moments to save you from another typical exercise in the commercialization of punk.

Roll On is a surprisingly aggressive and charged LP. There are some weak moments of pop indulgence and predictable Oi! Punk, but those instances are few enough to absorb the angst and power of the album as a whole. Hopefully, American radio success will find TLE so that they can totally abandon the pop singles and allow them to put a respectable face on the genre.

-Tyler Jacobson

Track Listing:

1. Roll On
2. Pictures in the Mirror
3. Riot On Broadway
4. Staring At The Light
5. Carry Me Home
6. Don’t Shut The Gate
7. Dirty Man
8. Blood On Your Hands
9. Revolution Regained
10. Silent Victory
11. Read About It
12. Killing The Right
13. Astoria Paranoia
14. Uncle Harry
15. Prisoner of Society (live)