The Riot Before – Fists Buried In Pockets

Never have there been fifteen words that has made me want to hear a record as much as the one line recommendation that came with The Riot Before‘s Fists Buried In Pockets. What it said was this: “The bastard child of Against Me! and The Gaslight Anthem with Mike Ness (Social Distortion) singing.” Wouldn’t that make you excited too? Anytime someone compares a new band to three of your all time favourite bands you know you’re in for one hell of a ride.

So I ripped it open, threw it in and was amazed. While I couldn’t quite hear the rumored connections to either The Gaslight Anthem or Mike Ness, that never once took away from the awesomeness that isFists Buried In Pockets.

It sounds as if its a mixture of some Fat Wreck Chords and Sabot Productions, with some old Against Me! and Fake Problems alongside a few other bands that are on the tip of my tongue. The songs are, for the most part, short, quick spurts of punk with folk overtones. There’s a sparseness to the music that makes each strum and beat stand out; all of which are held together with passionate and sincere vocals that constantly hints towards Tom Gabel.

The songs seamlessly flow into one another, both musically and lyrically. Remember how the first four tracks on Set Your Goals‘ Mutiny! led into one another? Well, The Riot Before uses that same technique here, just with a drastically different style. It makes it so that the simple Fists Burned In Pockets, the opening track that starts with just a single repeated notes and Brett Adams vocals, works as a build up for the faster, punker and more anthemic Threat Level Midnight. The same thing happens with the trio of You Can’t Sexy Dance To Punk Rock, I Have Books and They Rode On In The Friscalataning Dusklight. Only this time it doesn’t work quite as well because the middle track, I Have Books, that uses the lead in and out, seems to disrupt the flow of the album a little too much. The song is essentially only Adam’s vocals and the occasional acoustic guitar that doesn’t carry the same intensity, energy of tone of the rest of the album.

It’s the only weak spot on the album though as every other track works together, whether they leaning more towards a punk rock sound like We Are Wild Stallions or a much more folk oriented tune likeElection Day, The Riot Before always has the right amount of each sound to get you excited and singing along. Occasionally you get something like Words Written Over Coffee – one of the best tracks on the record – which sees them incorporating everything, from harmonica and acoustic guitar to wild punk rock abandon, together in one song.

Fists Buried in Pockets is a decisively strong debut, one that leaves The Riot Before with tons of possibility and promise. The lyrics are sincere and intelligent (yeah, I didn’t talk about them, but go read them and you’ll see), the music is catchy and distinct and despite that folk punk has started to become a new trend as of late, The Riot Before haven’t given usa run-of-the-mill copycat record but instead one that will lead them down the path to an underground cult status.