The music on this album is throwaway music. By that I don't mean that the CD is destined for the wastebasket, but that it's played in a punkish, free-for-all manner that is at once technical yet loose, stylish yet free of stylistic considerations. More importantly, it's a lot of fun.
These 3 brothers, "The Duke" on bass, "The Threat" on drums, and "Fang" on guitar, play their Southern-fried punk with a little bit of an Elvis-type swagger, fusing rockabilly and punk in a way that sounds authentic rather than contrived. It's as though these songs simply can't be played in any other way than they are.
Along the way, the boys cover a lot of ground. Using as the theme for the album their little essay on it being "midnight in time of war" in our modern-day world, the context reveals an album full of the little skirmishes that make up the day-to-day life of a Christian. Whether it's deteriorating moral standards, as "How The South Was Lost" or "Cowboys In The Graveyard" both describe, the battle to find truth, in "Truth? Lies?" and "Barbed Wire", alcoholism, "Glass Bottle Soda-Pop" or keeping the faith, "Alabama's Midnight Skies," all the tracks keep coming back to the theme of the war going on, without becoming overly moralistic or preachy. Instead, the lyrics are honest, and interesting.
One of the more clever lyrical twists is found in the final track, "American Midnight."
Believe in what you will
It'll only hide the poison baby
With sharpened teeth you're sure
To taste the sugar from your open tongue now
The moon is red
I'm in a constant state of sleep now
Till you wake up and clean your life
My eyes will never see a yellow sunshine.
Here we see clearly that there is a battle between the general public who are willing to believe whatever, yet can't see their own serpent's tongues, teeth and venom. The red moon indicates that the end is near, and is yet another reminder that as Christians we must always be ready.
All this, in an album that apparently was recorded in a very short time span in order to give a live and loose feel to it. The style of the music might not be my cup of tea, but it's grown on me in a way most albums of the punk persuasion haven't.
3.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
Bandoppler 1999Reviewed by Treble BandopplerThis is a tough one. First of all, I can not resort to the reviewer's standby of just labeling this in the cute way that we tend to label things (ie: rap-core, old school skate rock, etc...), and I am hard pressed to place it in any genre. That is probably what attracted Jackson Rubio to this band, seeing as how they are so intent on producing original music. And so, in the same spirit that has…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by ConradThis rockabilly band is heavy on the rock. Gritty vocals and rock guitars. For the most part I enjoyed it. There were some good songs on here, and the songs that weren't so good weren't all that bad either. There was enough variety in songwriting so as to make the listen fairly enjoyable. The production could have been WAY better - but it's passable. If you're into rockabilly, at least take a…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by Tom BastianThe Wednesdays could best be described as white trash punk rock, with a rockabilly flare. I hope that doesn't offend anyone, but it just really seemed like the best way to describe it. I guess it would also kind of fall into the psychobilly category. The production on this CD isn't the best, and overall the musicianship kind of sounds sloppy, but I guess that's the point with this style of music.…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by Matt ASome pretty standard pop/punk here, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as I like it when it's well done, and these guys do it well. My initial comparison was to "Bark Like a Dog" era Screeching Weasel. The catchy pop/punk stuff that gets stuck in your head. If you like the aforementioned Screeching Weasel or good, catchy pop/punk I think you'd enjoy the Wednesdays. B+The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Josh SpencerThis album sounds like a tape somebody would've shoved into your hand at a sweaty '80s hardcore punk show. It has that flat, poorly mixed production of early Crucified or Crashdog, kind of annoying in today's climate of perfect sonics but providing a sort of rough underground authenticity just the same. The distortion seems constantly on the verge of disintegrating, yet is somehow held together…Similar sounding releases
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