Various Artists – Take Action! Volume 5

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Various Artists

Take Action! Volume 5 - Sub City Records

There are a few compilations that have a very strong reputation. Sometimes that reputation is grown due to major backing, like the Atticus series or the Warped Tour series. Other times that reputation is built simply by the label backing it, like the Punk-O-Rama series or the Hopelessly Devoted to You compilations, and sometimes they are built from the ground up. A good cause and a consistently good selection of songs can go a long way, Sub City knows that, and has brought you the fifth installment in the Take Action! compilation series, a series who’s goal is to help prevent suicide deaths by raising awareness and funds for the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the Youth America Hotline!. Of course, while the cause of a compilation can come into play when sifting through the CD racks, it is the track listing that determines whether you buy it or not, and luckily, Sub City has once again been able to stay the course with a solid selection of great independent punk rock bands.

The two disc compilation can pretty much be split down the middle for categorizing, and conveniently, that split comes in the middle of the two discs. Looking through the track listing, it’s pretty evident that the first disc is for the harder, metalcore fans out there with bands like Underoath, The Fall Of Troy, Saosin, Emery, Bedlight For Blue Eyes, As I Lay Dying, Horse The Band, A Life Once Lost, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Boys Night Out and Hawthorne Heights. It is, basically, a scenester’s wet dream. Although the disc is filled with a wide selection of hardcore acts, it is far from being fully hardcore with a few surprises thrown in the middle by bands like Plain White T’s, Panic! At The Disco, Rufio, Sugarcult and Cartel. These songs are good, but do sound a bit out of place when you first hear them popup, but that’s one of the fall backs of most mix CDs.

The second disc, takes a leap from the hardcore act to focus more of the punk oriented sound; and it is, in my humble opinion, the better disc of the two thanks to bands like Strike Anywhere,The Briefs, Dropkick Murphys, The Vacancy, Against Me!, Lucero, Maxeen, The Loved Ones, I Am The Avalanche, Lost City Angels, A Wilhlem Scream, and The Horrorpops. These are the bands that got me into punk, and everybody loves the mid-nineties punk rock tunes, so what’s not to like about this nifty compilation?

The biggest disappointment in this compilation is the simple fact that there’s so few unreleased tracks. Yeah, there’s a few demos, an acoustic track – but out of the forty-five tracks, there’s only four unreleased ones courtesy of Lagwagon, Teenage Bottlerocket, The A.K.A.’s and Soasin. It’s not a bit downfall, but it would’ve been nice to hear a few more rare tracks.

A good cause, a fine selection of tracks, Take Action! Volume 5 would be a worthy addition to any punk rocker’s CD collection.