Ambivalent – Two Wrongs Make A Right

Ambivalent – Two Wrongs Make A Right / 2004 Broken Bonez / 10 Tracks / http://www.brokenbonezrecords.com/ambivalent.htm / http://www.brokenbonezrecords.com / Reviewed 23 January 2005

Ambivalent plays total circle-punk, spit, shit and blood punk rock that orgasms in a little over a minute and calls it a track. They aren’t crust in anyone’s book, but the screamed-out vocals and brutal guitars will be sure to win over the crusty kids. Bringing back some of the early eighties type of death metal in the form of their guitar riffs and a little more of Matt Freeman for their bass lines, this mash-up band is someone that even on a slow track (Lost My Head) will burst forth at a million miles a second and never apologized for a kicked-in head or a bloody nose. Some people will call this pure noise, but amongst the guitars turned up to 15 and the screeched-out vocals comes a very enticing brand of melody that will get an audience mving and slamdancing like the best of bands. There aren’t many different approaches to these songs, but there doesn’t need to be. The song’s already over by the time hat you realize that Ambivalent have been milking the same few chords for two minutes. The recording is surprisingly good for the style of music, and really doesn’t compress the urgency or crispy distortion on each and every track.

Anarchism rules in this band, with each member getting their own time to shine – whether it be the strong bass lines of “Drowning in Your Hate” or the memorable lyrics of “Eye Crust”. To simply slap the punk moniker on Ambivalent would be doing a disservice to the band as they are so above your average punk band in terms of arrangements, presence, and practically any other attribute that one can measure – their bombastic nature far outstrips the excesses of the early-eighties L.A. scene, their urgent guitars blow past the Germs and Dead Boys, and the fuck-you sneer heard throughout the tracks rival even the Circle Jerks.

The CD is done much before the average listener will struggle for air or be properly bloodied. Even though there are ten different tracks on “Two Wrongs Make A Right”, the feeling I get from this disc is of an EP – I want more. This is what punk rock should strive to be – not the coiffed $300 mohawks of The Casualties, not the brain-dead anti-government crust of Aus-Rotten, but the never-looking-back hurricane of music and anger that is Ambivalent. “I Gotta Go” is the perfect send off to a disc that itself is nearly perfect.

Top Tracks: I Gotta Go, Eye Crust

Rating: 8.7/10