Originally published in Verbicide issue #3

The Sharpshooters’ new album, which hit the streets last fall, is a comfortable run through some classic sounds. It’s a great album for the car, or at work, or slouching in the back of class; it’s upbeat, high in energy, and is a very homogenous record; no big surprises here.

Lead singer Dave Smalley is a DC area native and former singer of Dag Nasty, a band that has managed to keep a fairly large legion of loyal fans. There’s definitely some of the Dag Nasty edge missing in this album, which sounds a lot more pop and a lot less pissed off. The biggest drawback to the album is that the music rarely has the intensity to carry the lyrics to the level of emotion with which they were obviously written.

With the usual punk rock lyrics, Viva los Guerillas! keeps the status quo of big business bad, government dangerous, and love hurts. There is a pleasant surprise mixed in, specifically the song “You Don’t Own Me,” my favorite track featuring the long overdue vocals: “Left wing fascism/well I won’t salute/and while I agree with your goals/I cannot accept your modes…P.C. pretty crazies/P.C. preaching conformity/P.C. you’re such a Nazi.”

This is an album that’s fun to listen to, though it might not appeal to the angriest of punk rockers. Still, it’s worth the listen, for Smalley’s straightforward lyrics and The Sharpshooters’ bouncy rhythms.

(Fastmusic, no address provided)