Outbreak - You Make Us Sick (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Outbreak

You Make Us Sick (2004)

Bridge 9


Have you ever wanted to hear a band that sings about Dustin Hoffman and virus infected monkeys? Have you dreamed of picking up a record based completely on the movie Outbreak? Hell, how about some songs about Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kevin Spacey? Well, finally there's a band that can make those dreams a reality.

Ok, none of stuff is actually on this disc, but it's still worth a listen

So, for the three of you who are still reading, Outbreak is a hardcore band from Maine. If you've heard some Bridge 9 releases before, you'll know whether you'll dig this or not. Chances are, a good many of you probably have an idea of what this sounds like, and you haven't even listened to it yet. However, while this band brings a familiar formula to the table, they bring it fast and raw. In fact, the original version of this had 11 songs, but the band decided to record a few more when they noticed they only had 10 minutes of material. This made for an interesting situation, because the song labeled "Out(break)tro" is actually followed by four other songs. With the added tracks, this album is pushed up to whopping 15 minutes. So, you get the idea, this band doesn't waste a whole lot of time with subtlety.

The lyrics also don't try to paint any sort of complex picture. The idea is pretty simple, if you're alive and breathing, this band probably doesn't care for you very much. Take the song "MP" for example, where we hear vocalist Ryan O'Connor scream "do me a favor, fucking die." That line can pretty much sum up this entire release, and you'd be surprised how many times you can fit ‘fuck' into a minute long track.

You know the words used to describe bands like this: fast, intense, no-frills, and whatever else happened to pop into the head of some reviewer. Outbreak isn't a difficult band to get, they made themselves are clear as possible. This isn't intricate, well thought out, or the least bit challenging, but in the spirit of this release, I say fuck that shit. This is honest, and that's all it needs to be.