I Walk The Line
“Desolation Street”
Gearhead Records

It takes a lot of balls for a relatively unknown band to take the name of a legendary Johnny Cash song and saunter onto US soil with a record cover that looks like it could be a new My Chemical Romance album. Luckily, this Finnish band of punk junkie misfits spews so much rock that they get a pass for any cultural misunderstandings.

“Desolation Street” launches with “Just Like the Rest” a super-depressing woe-is-me number made way more exciting thanks to some buzz saw guitar licks. The reoccurring lyric “Without feeling like a loaded gun” bugged the hell out of me. Where have I heard that line before? Turns out “Just Like the Rest” might be a homage to punk godfather Mike Ness, who sang a similar line on the lead track to “White Light” more than 10 years ago.

That said, I Walk The Line is not a Social D ripoff, in fact, singer Ville sounds more like a baritone Tim Armstrong, but that’s due to his accent, not a lisp. Every song on this CD is fun, punk, and raw. Even the few songs that intersperse organ sounds come off more electric than most of the pussy crap that gets sold as punk rock nowadays. Stand out songs include the pounding drumfest “Drifter” and the mile-a-minute “Hallow.” There really isn’t a bad tune on this record. Definitely a must for punk fans spoon fed Orange County hardcore in the mid-’90s.

Doesn’t Rock l Kinda Rocks l Rocks l Really Rocks