We're All Doomed

The first proper studio album from Toxic Narcotic finds the underground punk heroes treading (stomping might be a better term) stylistic ground similar to the singles the band released during the '90s. We're All Doomed is unabashedly hardcore, the songs leaping off the disc and into your ears in an angry blur of rage and manic energy. From the blitz-styled attack of the opening title cut through the metallic machine-gun riffs of "5 Billion People Must Die" 30 minutes later, We're All Doomed bites hard with filed-down, jagged-edged teeth. Toxic Narcotic deals in lyrical rhetoric similar to late-'80s thrash bands like Nuclear Assault and Intruder, songs like "Pave the Planet" and "At War With Nature" displaying a radical environmentalism while others, like "Bullshit Conditions" and "You Were Warned," evincing a left-leaning class envy. The band makes some decent points with its lyrics, the street vocabulary of the songs reducing complex issues to a verse/chorus argument. With the full force of the music behind the shouted, snarled, and growled vocals, We're All Doomed effectively jackhammers the band's perspective into your brain. With its debut, Toxic Narcotic serves up the ferocity of Rage Against the Machine and the politics of Corporate Avenger without the politeness or restraint of either.