Whatever it is that makes punk rock so appealing to me, the Blind Pigs have captured on this album.
Writing the band off as Brazil's Rancid does so little justice to the amount of rock this record delivers. On one hand, there are plenty of songs here that wouldn't seem out of place on a release from The Forgotten or Rancid. Indeed, the tone of the album jumps between the instant catchiness of the Oakland foursome's "â¦Out Come The Wolves" and the blistering speed and anger of their 2000 self-titled album. However despite the heavy influences the Blind Pigs never get stuck sounding derivative or uninspired. There's a youthfulness and energy here that's captivating. Both vocally and in terms of enthusiasm the Blind Pigs call to mind the qualities that make The Explosion so endearing. That is if the Explosion freely interchanged Portuguese for English.
I love how no effort to is made to hide their culture here. About half of the 18 tracks here are in Portuguese, yet they're presented with such passion that it never seems any less believable or coherent than the rest of the CD. "Blind Pigs" comes off a little short, with 18 tracks speeding by in only 23 minutes, but with no glaring missteps in terms of songwriting that's entirely forgivable. This is one of those records that works far better as a whole than when dissected apart into individual tracks.
So often an album will show up on my doorstep only to find it's way into this dark limbo realm that is half way between "deserves a place on the shelf" and "pass on to friends." The Blind Pigs went straight to the shelf, overlooking my room from a high vantage point in the B's sandwiched between Black Flag and Bouncing Souls.