The Restoration of Chaos and Order

Miami punk quartet Against All Authority's new album The Restoration Of Chaos And Order owes its title to a vocabulary gaffe committed by our president -or what I believe is our president- and though it's funny (and sad), it points to the bands ideal of the album; to shed light on institutions and ideas that are a little in the dark (including sadly, our president). But more about the intentions in a moment.

I'm reviewing this album after reviewing The Wood Brothers debut album, which itself is a superior amalgam of genres. The significance of mentioning this is that A.A.A. aren't strictly a punk band. While they're not my type of music -and I'm certain older generations in my family would make that squinty face while rhetorically questioning "You call this music!!"- I believe I can recognize when something is successful and when it's not and even begin to enjoy it. These guys have married punk and ska, and it's a happy (albeit anarchic) marriage.

These two geographically disparate musical worlds finally merge most effectively on the ridiculously fun 5th track (track title were not available at press time), when trumpeter Alan Veronese opens up the musical landscape with a brassy island ska beat. It almost sounds as if a Jamaican dance party were crashed by a Korn fan club, and it's all good.

This is notably representative of most of the album. Their message (being different is ok, if not preferable; question authority, whatever authority there is), is most effective and accepted when they bridge these two genres (as on tracks 5 and 8), as opening up melodically lets their lyrics dance in your head more clearly (despite singer Danny Lore's slightly overly posed screaming), and also with a better melody. Punk is all well and good, but who said you shouldn't be able to sing (or scream) along to it?