Righteous Jam's debut CD
When you first hear about a band that has links to both New Found Glory and Joe Escalante's Kung Fu records. You’re only going to expect to be graced with the sounds of one of the finest underground pop punk in the USA. Luckily for all you Ataris-hating Metal fans out there, this seems not to be the case. Righteous Jams provides the listener with 9 short tracks of true punk hardcore with the longest track only lasting 2:02, which isn't a bad thing since it compliments the overall tone of the album. The band's debut CD was released by Broken Sounds, a label run by Ian Grushka and Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory fame and distributed with the help of Kung-Fu records.
Originating from Boston, USA. The quintet brings back the traditional ingredients used to make hardcore music; solid beats, well-cut power chords and a strong gritty voice. Those of you who are fans of Bad Brains or the infamous Madball will be sure to find similarities in 'Rage of Discipline'. But unlike those previously mentioned, Righteous Jams are unable to create that killer chorus or crunchy riff so many punk hardcore bands fail to achieve in today's industry thus causing a lack of interest from the mainstream media.
Nevertheless, the CD starts off with the title track 'Rage of Discipline' which at times begins to stop and start. This can prove a little hard to get into but before you know it, you're hit with the 2nd track 'Iron Mind'. A totally rocking track, that has the potential to open up any concert with a roar. The charisma certainly present in each song but seems to have no effect on the listener whatsoever. It's hard to rock out to this album the minute you put it into the CD player but after identifying the strong points of each song, I can promise you that you will be at least nodding your head to each song whether you like it or not.
Track 5 'No Glory' brings some comedy to the CD since it begins with a muted guitar and a drum beat similar to the beginning of 'Stacey’s Mom' by Fountains of Wayne. After hearing that and reading some of the band's lyrics, it's hard to take them seriously:
'Invasion used to be this band but now we're playing righteous jams!' These lyrics are the only words that singer Joey C uses throughout the whole of 'Invasion'. Seriously though it couldn't take a 10-year-old more than 5 minutes to think of that rhyme and repeat it for a whole song. Oh the intellect of this band seems to bewilder me.
Overall if I was to describe this band and compare it to anything in the world, it would have to be my parents old Peugeot 405. An old type genre that is pretty much dead and overrun with new remakes of the same type. When starting up, the sound isn't the greatest in the world and takes sometime to get used to but once you've dealt with those minor faults, you're ready to get moving.