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New Hampshire State Motto

Turn Up the Suck (2005)
Show of Hands Records

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Contributed by: Anchors
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Published on April 21st 2006

I don’t know a whole lot about the fine state of New Hampshire, but I’d wager to guess that their state motto is not in fact “turn up the suck.” An odd choice for an album titled from New Hampshire State Motto, because this album does anything but.

Rip roaring through nine songs in 18 minutes, these guys have a firm handle on playing some great melodic punk rock. Melodic, yes, but there’s quite a decent amount of bite to be felt in these songs, and it’s heavy without ever being overpowering.

Starting it up with some speedy drum fills, “G8” launches right into some tight riffing and politically minded lyrics. This is not a band who’s afraid to speak their mind, and each and every song makes it just that much more evident. The band's vocalist sounds not unlike Tony Sly of No Use for a Name fame, with his melodic rallying cries and strong, clear voice. The melody does not come at cost of any of the real grit on the record, and “Tearin’ Up the Charts” makes it more than clear. A harsh critique of the music industry and its practices, the song carries a bit harder of an edge than many others on the record. The vocalist sounds positively pissed off, giving his words a bit of gravity they may not otherwise have held.

Making a third terrific song in a row, “Campout in DC” opens with some shredding clean guitar, before bringing on the distortion and pummeling drum fills to really attack the senses. The melodic undercurrents don’t compromise the integrity of the hard edge the band is going for, instead only solidifying the album with an important bit of diversity. “Money Doesn’t By Everything” and “Ron Eats Breakfast with the Hell of All Nations” further puts the political stamp on the record, in keeping with their harsh punk attack.

Essentially No Use for a Name with a political message, New Hampshire State Motto have drafted a hard hitting and informed, albeit somewhat forgettable record with Turn Up the Suck.

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mattack (April 26, 2006)

My brother sounds NOTHING like Tony Sly.

Anonymous (April 24, 2006)

Terry and Dean are my heros. Woman is a danger cat.

Anonymous (April 24, 2006)

Fubar rules balls. "I was just thinkin' to myself how I wanted to shit through six minutes of shit." "Yo-yo fuckin' blows." "More cheers, more beers man, that's it that's all."

GreenVandal (April 24, 2006)

You...really...like...periods.

Badass band name though. I'm gonna name my band New Jersey state motto. I dont know what New Jersey's state motto is, but if it's the garden state (even though it's more of a swamp) it probably has something about tomatoes in it.

Anonymous (April 23, 2006)

you are all right.. i lost my head there for a minute..hahaha

ryanbolger (April 23, 2006)

how could you dare to neglect mentioning the fleetwood macs and the against me's!?

Anonymous (April 23, 2006)

"but we decided after the hives, the white stripes, the faint, the bronx, the buoyies, and the mick daverson 12 we didnt want a band name that started with an indefinite article."

How can you blame those bands? I blame posers like the Beatles, the Clash, the Lawrence Arms, the Oath, and the Body for ruining "the."

-Will

Anonymous (April 22, 2006)

its not like we are implying our own version of the state motto ... turn up the suck is the name of the album... in fact.. tearin up the charts, track 3 was originally the title track till we decided title tracks fucking blow. so the idea is.. our band thinks a la nhsm.. live free or die - if people cant have freedom.. theyre better off dead..thats the severity of the situation.. the cd is called turn up the suck because were using punk rock.. "an inferior" form of music.. loud , shitty, fast, obnoxious, and bringing to the surface a lot of bullshit that doesnt usually get a place in the music media arena, or any media arena for that matter... and that stuff were turning up onto the surface is politics and all that other cool punk rock shit thats awesome to whine about... i guess this whole scenario isnt so easily thought through at first read but hopefully this helped a little..

at one point we did consider dropping the bulk and going to "the motto" but we decided after the hives, the white stripes, the faint, the bronx, the buoyies, and the mick daverson 12 we didnt want a band name that started with an indefinite article. i hope ive been informative.. long day.. bit scattered

istapledmyfoot (April 22, 2006)

this is a good review but I can't stand the phrase "these guys aren't afraid to speak their mind etc. etc.", as if that's somehow unique. Are there bands who are afraid to speak their mind?

Anonymous (April 22, 2006)

Well, NH is the one 69ing Vermont, just above Massachusetts.

The real state motto as someone said before is "Live Free Or Die"

Adam Sandler is from around here

Home of the Segway and the portable dialysis machine

And the only place on earth you can say "leaf peeping" and not sound like a fucking retard.

Now you know something about New Hampshire.

Anonymous (April 22, 2006)

Rooney likes New Hampshire State Motto

Icapped2pac (April 21, 2006)

I love the album title. That, the comments, and the review tell me that I should this out right fucking now.