Los Creepers - City Streets (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Los Creepers

City Streets (2006)

Smelvis


With the recent release of Crimescene Records' L.A.'s Most Wanted sampler compilation featuring the Briggs, Throw Rag, Left Alone, Madcap, Buck-O-Nine, U.S. Bombs, the Aggrolites and a slew of other great bands, Los Creepers were one of the few who I didn't recognize. So I'll consider them cool by association.

Los Creepers are a hardcore street punk band from Los Angeles. If it were up to me, this review would end here, because going any further just seems like an exercise in futility. Their press promo says the band plays a "mix of surf, punk, metal, country, rockabilly, and blues," but don't let that fool you. This is a punk band, and they play punk.

With 15 songs clocking in at 25 minutes, Los Creepers' furious speed punk races through City Streets with no filler, frills, or superfluities. From the opening track "Bandidos" to the ska-tinged closer "Twenty Three," City Streets does not let up for an instant. The volatile "Tonight" showcases the band's breakneck slam dance qualities, as does "Blackout" an ode to intoxication that features lead vocalist Lucky Almader spouting off lyrics at Heckle-like speed. The band does toss in two slower rockabilly-type songs with "Drive Me Wild" and "I Just Don't Fit In," the later of which features some spiffy harmonica playing and the slowest rhythm on the album, which doesn't say much because it's still no waltz.

If you like solid, fast street punk in the same vein as the Unseen, Cheap Sex, or Lower Class Brats, you won't be disappointed in Los Creepers' City Streets. The relentless aggression barely stops to breathe, and if you ever find yourself in a circle pit hearing these songs, changes are you won't either.