Punknews.orgPunknews.org Logo
Review Navigator

BackForward

Features

 

Contests

 




Reviews

Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell (Deluxe)
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Credo Mobile

While this album has been out in Japan for a while, Asian Man has just now secured the release for the band's North American fans. For those not familiar with Nicotine's music, they can easily be described as the Japanese NOFX. Not only do they share the same instrumentation with NOFX, but Nicotine is damn good.

With School of Liberty, Nicotine has shed some of their ska influences and instead went with a more mature, and melodic pop punk sound. Not only will you hear blaring pop punk anthems, but Nicotine even threw in a song filled with an "oi oi oi" chorus that will surely get the crowd pumped up. That track, "Get the Liberty", along with "Perfect Crime" are highlights of the album, but tracks like "Flash Back" and "Predator" make this album more than worth the eight bucks it'll cost you to buy it directly from Asian Man.

When it's all said and done, School of Liberty is filled with 17 tracks of pure adrenaline that will get just about everyone going.

At times, the lyrics are hard to understand, and at times, they're just plain ridiculous, but for English not being their first language, the guys in Nicotine sound better than most American bands.

The album isn't completely serious though. While a lot of the lyrics are socially conscious, the band shows they know how to have fun with "At the Class Room", which is a direct spoof of Snoop Dogg's "Gz and Hustlas". Also, to cap things off, Nicotine offer up an intense and catchy rendition of Green Day's "Basketcase".

This album is a must have and is a solid progression from the band's first Asian Man release, Samurai Shot. These guys put Hi-Standard to shame. A must have!



People who liked this also liked:
All State Champion - Is It Nothing To YouToys That Kill - Flys



Please login or register to post comments.
What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
  • Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
  • Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
  • Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
  • Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

    Posted by krowdsurf on 2003-07-14 22:30:42
    My Score:

    What happend to Kemuri? Are they still around? And speaking of Japanese ska bands, what happend to The Rude Bones? I bought their album because it said Dicky Barret did "guest vocals" on one song. All it consisted of was Dicky's phoned in voice in the backround talking about how nice all the guys in the band were. Sorry, I'm off topic....uhhhh, I'm sure this band is great. 5 stars.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, July 14, 2003 at 2:16 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    nope, basketcase was track 17 if you buy it from asian man records

    i don't really consider the polysics a punk band though.

    they are awesome though.

    Posted by Mikeshitter on 2003-07-13 18:56:07
    My Score:

    When I said four, I meant five. Dammit.

    Posted by Mikeshitter on 2003-07-13 18:55:34
    My Score:

    These guys are OK (and not, they DON'T put Hi-Standard to shame), but there are shit loads of better Japanese punk bands around:

    Mad Capsule Markets
    B-Dash
    Polysics
    Kemuri
    Going Steady

    to name but four.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 11, 2003 at 2:29 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Hey! My cd didn't have basket case on it... I guess that's my punishment for downloading it 2 months ago. Is it a hidden track? These guys are awesome.. they have a split with New Found Glory where they cover Eye of the Tiger, Holding Out for a Hero, Can You Feel the Love Tonight... awesome.

    Posted by DestroyingTheScene on 2003-07-11 04:16:24
    My Score:

    These guys rock, they are incredibly nice and just full of energy! I saw them earlier this year with Death By Stereo as well and during the DBS set, the lead singer and their sound/merch/equipment guy came on stage completely naked with the words "small" and "2 inches" written on their stomachs pointing to their knobs! It was the funniest shit ever! Then they jumped into the crowd! These guys rule...

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 11, 2003 at 2:25 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    hey there buckaroo.

    i'm the reviewer of the album.

    i'm not holding anything against these guys. in fact, they're probably my favorite band from japan.

    i added the japanese nofx tag because since the band is japanese, and fairly unknown overseas, i figured it would help people who are unfamiliar with their music get a bit more familiar.

    hell, asian man records even markets and promotes them as a japanese nofx.

    oh well, not trying to diss them

    -dane

    Posted by 8dollarclarinetsolo on 2003-07-11 00:24:03
    My Score:

    i dont understand the "japanese nofx" tag they cant seem to shake. i have "samurai shot" and its nice, but just because they have the same instrumentation and play fairly regular, not particularly fast sounding punk rock, they are the japanese nofx. how many bands have that instrumentation honestly. if you are holding something against this band just because of that, i would just suggest you dont is all

    Posted by treetsux on 2003-07-10 15:54:44
    My Score:

    I've been listening to these guys for a couple of years now, and I LOVE the new record. And their second rate english makes it that much better. They make me 'Full Excited!'

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 10, 2003 at 10:51 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Saw them with Death By Stereo and they were pretty amusing... good band

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 9, 2003 at 7:41 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "japanese nofx"... They can keep em as nofx sucks sweaty testicles-oldpunker-

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 9, 2003 at 7:06 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    the polysics are fucking insane.

    i love them.

    Posted by fallingtopieces on 2003-07-09 05:52:57
    My Score:

    when it comes to japanese bands nobody beats POLYSICS. Speaking of POLYSICS, ASIANMAN better start carrying some POLYSICS shirts so i can share my love of them to the world.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 9, 2003 at 2:28 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    first off, these guys dont put hi standard to shame at all.

    second of all , the guy below who said that these guys are the happiest guys he'd ever seen is right. I dont even like pop punk but when they played before death by stereo in montreal , they put in the best mood i have ever been in at a show, it was ridiculous , i felt like a 5 year old kid, its like they have some magical aura or something, you should have seen the crowd.

    Posted by toma on 2003-07-09 00:17:44
    My Score:

    i give desperado a better score for coverart

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 8, 2003 at 9:59 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    when there's already nofx, why do we need a second rate version? there are so many better and far more original japanese punk groups that it boggles my mind how this group is the second most popular on in the US

    -el vaquero
    check out 10-feet and highway 61, please?

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 8, 2003 at 3:29 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    These guys are the happiest people I've ever seen.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 8, 2003 at 2:15 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    i like this band.
    BLAAACK FLIIEES IS MY SUUUPERHEEEROOO! kickass tune.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 8, 2003 at 1:16 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    This score is for the band name and coverart. Never heard of em before.

    -sickboi

    © 1999-2006 Punknews.org • Terms of Use • Privacy • FAQ • About • ISSN 1710-5366 • RSS RSS Icon