The Duane Peters – Gunfight / 2005 Disaster / 10 Tracks / http://www.disasterrecords.com / Reviewed 04 August 2005

The instrumental opening to “War With You” is fairly non-descript, but does provide a nice lead-in to the vocal music contained on the second half of the track. The multiple-part harmony, while still purveying a nice sense of urgency nonetheless sounds clichéd. The style of music that The Duane Peters play is nothing new, going for a simplistic, catchy brand of punk that admittedly is done well. Each track on “Gunfight” has the same all-in type of chorus one can expect from bands like The Unseen and Roger Miret, while tracks like “Blow My Brains” has more than its fair share of Minneapolis-hardcore influenced guitar riffs (which gives it an overall Husker Du tint).

“Gunfight” is the shining example of a disc that never lets its listeners rest – each track immediately kicks in with the driving guitar riffs and fitting drumming. The production on “Gunfight” is nothing to scoff at – the work done by Darian Rundal is enough to elicit from the band equal focus on all the instrumentation, being bass heavy when it is needed (Gunfighter) and showing off a nuanced guitar at other times (Blow My Brains). The sub twenty-five minute runtime of the disc seems to be the largest complaint that one can levy on The Duane Peters; while the tracks do have a high amount of replay, even the most dedicated listeners probably could not sit through this disc three or four times in a row (if they were intending to use it for an up-tempo workout or martial arts exercise). “My D.N.A.” uses guitar lines that would make Shrinky Dinks (now Sugar Ray) blush, even as Duane’s vocals look toward the down and dirty rock of the seventies. While most of the tracks on “Gunfight” are fairly removed from political leanings, “Smoke ‘Em” is a poignant, Fear-like bit of delicious insensitivity, a comment on the recent bar smoking bans enacted throughout.

The Tim Armstrong-like vocals of “Yer Too Sensitive” seems almost too much of a similarity to properly enjoy, but the sizzling guitar that dominates this track is more than capable to take the attention away from the weakness. Most memorable on this disc is “Breaks My Heart”, which shies away from greatness when Duane does not stick to eir guns and play a larger vocal part during the chorus. If Duane was more proactive, the track would have been united with a cohesion that is nigh-unbreakable.

Top Tracks: Breaks My Heart, War With You

Rating: 5.6/10