If you’re into hardcore and you don’t know who Vinnie Stigma is, stop reading now, fire up google and check out his bands. Those of you who know Stigma, know that he’s not the greatest guitar player, but that without him, hardcore would not have been the same. Agnostic Front recently more or less returned to their hardcore roots, after a couple of CD’s that displayed a more streetpunk-oriented sound. Roger Miret has his Disasters, Stigma has his ‘solo’ project. Vinnie sings on this record and let me be honest with you, he doesn’t do very well. Listen to the acoustic song ‘Blurry Nights’ and you’ll know what I mean. It sounds somewhat like Al Barr in his Bruisers days, but not as well executed. The musical style can be described as streetpunk, the kind of music you listen to in a bar with a beer in your hand while singing along. There’s nothing new on this cd, but that probably wasn’t what Stigma wanted. ‘New York Blood’ doesn’t get my blood flowing, it’s not bad, well put together, but it never reaches the level that a band like The Bruisers produced. And please, a song like ‘Hole In My Head’: don’t do that again.
