Aggressive, angry and political, the latest release from upstate New York's I Object is a fast furious barrage of hardcore punk with a message. Even though the band's messages seem to be their first and foremost priority, they managed to create an album that's great to listen to as well.
Hardcore Punk With A Few Hooks
Teaching Revenge consists of 16 tracks, none over two minutes long, each blasting a new opinion on a different issue. In short bursts of punk rock, the band addresses issues ranging from abortion on "Like a Billboard", to health care on "Sick".
Barb, the frontwoman for I Object, proves that hardcore punk is not a man's world. Her angry snarling vocals are the perfect compliment to the band's driving music. She screams her way through every song, pausing briefly on one song, "Lay It Out", to sing a few lines. It seems like she does it to prove that, yes, she can sing, she just chooses not to. It's a nice touch.
One problem that plagues a lot of hardcore bands is the inability to write a song with any sort of hook at all - the kind of song you'll be singing to yourself when you're not listening to the album. Teaching Revenge doesn't have that problem; there are several songs that are catchy without losing their hardcore edge. Two of the album's catchier songs are "Intra Muros", a song about prison reform, and "The Chosen Profession", a song that champions everyone who struggles with a job they don't like in order to get by. They prove that hardcore doesn't need to get poppy to have a hook.
Spreading A Message Without Preaching
Many bands with such a strong messages also often come across as preachy, and the only people who end up buying their records are the people who already agree with what they have to say. I Object's songs, while fiercely opinionated, don't come across as preachy at all, and for such a heavy hardcore sound, they come across really positive as well.
All in all, they seem to have the ideal that getting their message out there is more important than getting listeners to agree with it; if they've made you think, that's the important thing. They've created an album that proves that a straight-edge punk band can have a message and make a good record as well.
Part of I Object's solid D.I.Y. stance (the band has pressed many of their own releases and book their own tours) prevents a bar code from appearing on the record. This is going to keep it out of most record stores. If you're a fan of good hardcore punk, you owe it to yourself to take the extra step of ordering Teaching Revenge.
