Ten albums into a career spanning 25 years, it’s safe to say that you’ll know what to expect from these New York street punks.
As if the brightly coloured spikes and mohawks weren’t enough, there’s a clue right there in the album title that you may encounter a great deal of shouting and swearing, an obnoxious racket that could be used as a backdrop for a riot.
Packed with ‘Whoa-oh’ choruses and ‘Oi oi’s, Chaos Sound is singalong punk rock pure and simple. There’s a certain irony in the fact that The Casualties get so much flack for having a generic punk sound when they don’t really sound like anybody else; they sound like everybody else, but that’s a different matter.
The title track is equal parts Rancid and The Exploited, while Running Through The Night is like Abrasive Wheels getting pissed with Blitz, circa 1982. But, however obvious, each influence is just that, and one of many. Perhaps not a classic, but Chaos Sound still kicks ass.
