Similarly obsessed by Stanley Kubrick's film of
Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange and the early-'80s Oi! explosion,
the Lower Class Brats are content merely to reshuffle bits of those influences in ever-changing but ultimately deadening combinations. Sporting a half-new lineup but the same old line in
Sham 69-meets-
Peter & the Test Tube Babies ramalama, 2003's A Class of Our Own is basically the same as any of
the Lower Class Brats' earlier releases, with derby-sporting singer Bones DeLarge braying the same empty slogans over Marty Volume's standard-issue guitar riffs. To their credit, new bassist Evo and drummer Mike Brat go through the motions with a little more élan than their predecessors in the rhythm section, but it's inescapable: even the best tracks, like the shouty "Go All the Way," are the kind of songs where one thinks only "Oh, that sounds like
Alternative TV" or "This bit reminds me of
the Lurkers." ~ Stewart Mason