Authority Zero

12:34:00 PM

[4.5/5]

It’s been awhile-like 10 years-since the lion’s share of Warped bands mined the punkiness that Authority Zero jams out on 12:34. Even AZ themselves leaned more on the Brad Nowell school of reggae dub-riffery on 2002’s Passage Of Time, but this time the Mesa, Arizona, dudes stay more inside the double-time skate-shred sound of their 2004 LP Andiamo-just better. Veteran punk knob-turner Ryan Greene is back at the board, so guitarist Bill Marcks’ tone is thick and juicy and Jim Wilcox’s drums punch you in the gut. The guys have definitely matured in their songwriting-the first six songs are all instant classics. There are huh-uge choruses (“Wake Up Call” and “Courage”) and singer Jason DeVore does his hyper-fast punk-scat thing on several tracks (“Talk Is Cheap” and “Break Free”) while maintaining the heavier formula with bigger choruses so the vocal riffing doesn’t sound like a tacked on “look, we’re different” move. (BIG PANDA) Casey Lynch