Riot Riot Upstart

Probably the last survivors of New York City's influential early-'80s hardcore scene, Agnostic Front remain true to their roots nearly two decades after their genesis. Riot, Riot Upstart, produced by Rancid's Lars Fredericksen, is as furious (both musically and lyrically) and hard-hitting as anything they've done. Vocalist Roger Miret spits nails in songs of alienation and frustration like "Police State," "Blood, Death, and Taxes," "Frustration," and "Nowhere to Go." His words are defiant and, in classic hardcore form, steeped in anti-authority rhetoric. Riot, Riot Upstart, which knows only two speeds--fast and faster--is a celebration of unbridled anger and aggression that is constructively funneled to a cathartic musical explosion. Seventeen blasts of pure adrenaline-fueled rants in less than a half hour--that's the beautiful economy of real hardcore punk. --Adem Tepedelen