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Voice of Addiction: Reduce Reuse Resist
Voice of Addiction Reduce Reuse Resist album new music review

Voice of Addiction: Reduce Reuse Resist

Punk Rock/Rock
3.5/5.0

Independent
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by Craig Hartranft,  08.29.2011

It's not a secret that I'm rather ambivalent to punk rock, notably, in its modern form. I remember buying the Sex Pistols' Never Min the Bullocks ... and almost every Clash album, plus The Alarm, Tom Robinson and a few others. American punk never really interested me as the movement developed and integrated hardcore. Later, I thought Green Day made punk into an awkard mixture of simple teenage angst wrapped in bubble gum pop. So Chicago-based Voice of Addiction and their new album Reduce Reuse Resist was already facing a deficit of interest.

However, for a twist on modern punk RRR is rather interesting. Perhaps what sets VOA apart is the ability to mix the energy and pace of punk with simple rock. You might find this in Wrecking Ball, Jo-C, and U're All Crazy. But mostly this is punk in a variety motifs: the more creative in Need to Feed, the fast and angry of System Control, the strong vocal arrangement within Warriors, the old school English punk of September Remembered, and the average, take a pass, of Mother or Bombs Away. It's a mix of entertaining incongruity.

Press and web info declare that Voice of Addiction is socially and politically conscious rock and punk. But typical of most modern punk, there's a certain ambiguity to it's expression in the lyrics, and those of VOA are no exception. Even the last song Need Change, which incorporates the titles of most of the rest of the songs, fails to clarity anything, only that 'change' is needed. But that only makes VOA like President Obama, you see his lips moves but he doesn't say anything of substance (unless more government interference in our lives is substantial).

Nevertheless, Voice of Addiction's Reduce Reuse Resist as a modern take on punk rock, angry, entertaining, and accessible, and without becoming a Green Day cliche, is pretty good stuff. Also, the album artwork by Robert Cureton is quite creative. Get it if you're into the punk sound.






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In Short

Voice of Addiction's Reduce Reuse Resist as a modern take on punk rock, angry, entertaining, and accessible, and without becoming a Green Day cliche, is pretty good stuff. Get it if you're into the punk sound.

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