Austin, Texas quintet Born to Lose haven't reinvented anything over their past decade of releases, fitting into a 30-year-old form like boys fitting into dad's shoes until they're dads themselves. But they're still hard, hot, uncompromising, slamming, and song-based the way it was in the early '80s. They don't sound like the 1977 Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers' classic their moniker evokes; all-out burners "Sayonara Kid!," "Shallow Graves," and "Fall on Your Sword" sound like those ripping bands the Stern brothers gathered for their early-'80s BYO compilations, á la Battalion of Saints, the Blades, SNFU, D.O.A., and their own Youth Brigade with loads of Bad Religion/Misfits/Naked Raygun/Buzzcocks "Whoa-whoas!" throughout. Heavy, vicious, raw-voiced, guitar-riffing, singalong punk with zealous conviction? Never gets old.
© Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover /TiVo