The CD starts off with "yeah." Some snapping of the fingers gives a nice, soft lounge jazz effect. Then the guitar slashes in and breaks the tranquillity. The drums hammer down, and the bass slops through its part. Nothing makes sense, and it all translates as noise. Then the guitar jumps into a new beat, changing the tempo into some nice, melodic punk. But don't count on beautiful melodies too long, because the chorus soon ends and the next verse of noise, scream, and metal riffs soon comes back. But the soft lounge feeling soon comes back at the end, closing out the song. "The Day Squid's Gerbil Died" is a melodic punk song with healthy doses of hardcore sprinkled in here and there. The drums are fierce and intense, keeping everything (and everyone) on their toes. The guitar slams and slashes through the song, ripping through melodic lines that gain your trust, and hard kicks of hardcore that make you scared, very scared. The bass is the right mix of cutting blows and hammering dives through the noise, keeping everything tight and powerful. "Mr. Lady" starts off with vocals and soft ticks of the bass. Then the fuzzy guitar enters, still keeping everything soft, but adding a necessary edge. Then the whole band leaps into the song, giving it a mid-tempo punk beat, which doesn't really work. Not highly melodic, just loud and motionless, the song isn't overall appealing. "Spork" has a great idea behind the song, but they lose the idea behind a wall of noise and sloppiness. I too have wondered "is it a fork or a spoon?" But they just don't pull off one of life's mysteries. The guitar is all over the place, the drums seem to hit anything near them, and the bass joins in on the fun, creating noise on top of noise. "Don't Want You" takes a few listens to get used to, but pretty soon you'll be in love with this song. The vocals are harsh and angry, as they should be. Brutal bass, sharp guitar chords, and hammering drums play nicely with the angry moan vocals. The chorus is infectious, dragging you in and getting you to sing (or rather scream) along. Unlike many other songs and artists, The Lunachicks pull off guitar solos in this song nicely. A great song that will help you stomach some of the other songs on the album. "Missed it" has a tremendous bass line intro, which I really dig. The rest of the song though isn't the best. Once you hear their melodic punk songs, there's no going back to their raunchy punk rock mayhem.

This CD has some good moments and some band moments. Too bad the bad moments seem to stick with you more than the good moments. The CD is powerfully intense in some parts, and horrendous noise in others. I'll give this CD a B-. It's just too shaky.

Luna: The Days of Our Nights [re-release]

Lune, The: Blameless

[Issue Five // February 1998]