RAT CITY RIOT - Load Up

Rat City Riot - Load Up

12 songs
31:23 minutes
***** **
People Like You

Bandpage

San Diego band Rat City Riot has played about 700 shows since their foundation in 2003, but found their way into studios less often, which makes Load Up only the second CD of the four street punks. Their music contains also elements of hardcore, oi and rock’n’roll, which isn’t sufficient to set new accents.

Nonetheless their music contains enough fun to please. Street punk often needs not much more than simple melodies and liters of beer to get the crowd dancing. Load Up yet also offers some rawer moments that animate to shout along. Dirty guitars, a spent voice and straight songwriting offer everything you should expect from this genre. The songs are rarely more than three minutes long and come instantly to the point, which is one of their strengths. Rat City Riot prove their sense of humour by revamping Elton John’s Saturday Night's Alright in a sleazy, entertaining way. The rather basic production aims at a directness which probably isn’t so different from the band’s live sound.

Load Up definitely has a certain charm, but isn’t as much to the point as for instance Rancid whose songwriting is more fetching. Rat City Riot have still delivered a nice album with a high party and pogo factor, even if they are still far away from fiving birth to a milestone.

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