The American Plague

They may be possessed of all the subtlety of your friendly neighborhood vice squad on a 4 a.m. drug raid, but Knoxville, Tennessee's the American Plague is far more welcome at your door. The band aims to fuse hardcore punk with the Motor City proto-punk of the MC5 and the Stooges, and the result sounds a little like the Clash circa Give 'Em Enough Rope. There's no Green Day-style ironic good cheer here. These guys represent the dark side of punk that would rather guzzle Black Jack with Mötörhead's Lemmy than wax snobbish and effete about rock history with Elvis Costello. Those for whom pop punk is as much an abomination as lite beer will likely be pogoing and headbanging at the same time.