Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards Review

Released: Mar 20, 2001
Genre: Rock
Styles: Hardcore Punk, Punk Revival
Number Of Tracks: 13
The album crackles with the exhilaration of early adulthood, when all things seem possible, and one can get away with anything via the virtues of youth alone.

Sound:	8.5
Lyrics:	6.5
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	8.2
Users rating:	9.4
Comments:	3

overall: 9.3

Featured review by: teenCKYspirit, on august 31, 2004

Sound: This band was stared by Lars Frederiksen from Rancid, its his side project. This album sounds like it came out of the 1980s. It's the closest to old school punk rock that you will find. In fact, when I first heard a few of these songs I thought it was from an older band. Unlike most old school punk albums from the Misfits or GG Allin, the recording quality is grade A. It's amazing to think that someone is keeping true punk alive. // 10

Lyrics and Singing: I like the lyrics but thats not to say they're great. Mostly they're about his youth in Campbell, Ca. A few songs are politcal but not as in-your-face as the Dead Kennedys. I don't think he was writing this album to change the world, just to make one of the best punk albums since the late 80s. They're pretty harsh, but far from GG Allin. Lars's singing is great. He has a rough voice w/melody. The bastards also know how to use two singers very well. // 8

Impression: Like I said before, this album sounds like it's straight out of the punk era. If you love punk, you will love this album. Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards are keeping punk alive in the new century. I don't own any Rancid albums, but I'd say that Lars's side project is very different from Rancid, so don't shy away if you're not a fan of Rancid. My favorite songs on the album would be Wine And Roses, Vietnam and To Have And To Have Not (cover of Billy Bragg). Just to make sure it can't get stolen I made a copy of it and downloaded the songs to my harddrive. // 10

overall: 7

Reviewed by: bernie93, on june 06, 2007

Sound: The music involved in this album is rather simple and there isn't much complexity about it. However some songs are great songs to just blare out on your speakers. Most of the songs are about Lars and his friend's childhood in Campbell California. As you go further into the album you find that a lot of the songs do sound the same, but they half forgive themselves with "Skunx" and "Vietnam" at the end to leave you. The album starts with a bizzare 13 second introduction with the "Unknown Bastard" yelling out which even though sends a message of how tough The Bastards are it is rather pointless.
// 7

Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics in this song are nothing special although it is pretty clever how most of the songs are about the same theme yet come out in different differently. In some of the songs the lyrics are either repetitive or pointless, such as "Dead American" and "Vietnam" but both of them are still good songs. In fact they are one of my favourites of the album. // 5

Impression: Lars did a good job on this album but Rancid are definitely the better band in this case. I wasn't so much impressed by any of the songs, but I did enjoy listening to it. It's funny, there are quite a few bad points to the album. But overall I still think it is a ripper. I love Lars and his voice in this album, it really suits the theme of growing up in Campbell, CA. If I lost this album? I would buy there other release "Viking" and see which is the better of the two, and depending on the result, would probably buy this one soon after. // 9

Comments

[turbopunk2000]

Powerful album, lars is a more guitar riff driven band than rancid. alot of rancid songs are driven by the bass, which I think is cool. Oh yeah, Rancid pwns!

[rocknrollreject]

turbopunk2000 wrote:

Powerful album, lars is a more guitar riff driven band than rancid. alot of rancid songs are driven by the bass, which I think is cool. Oh yeah, Rancid pwns!

yeah rancid is more reggae and lars is more rock i just got tim armstrongs new cd it more reggae than rock its all cool though

[BlackRevelation]

viking is a very sick record