Very few bands can get away with inserting a ‘!’ into their name but Philadelphia punk rock outfit Cranked Up! sure do thanks to the driving varied and always energetic approach qualifying their Blackout Records debut 2005’s This Is a Weapon. A relatively new project for veterans of several separate Philly punk rock concerns and therefore freer to break out of most strict self-imposed boundaries Cranked Up! dabble liberally in their influences quoting the Pistols’ ‘New York’ (‘You Are the Fool’) here pure American hardcore (‘Swindled’) and second-generation U.K. punk rockers like the Exploited (‘It’s Not Right ‘ ‘On the Attack’) there and even Swedish metallic pop-punkers the Backyard Babies on ‘Deal With It.’ Damning political and social commentary does break up the good-natured fun on occasion (see ‘Another Vietnam ‘ ‘Exploitation ‘ and the sensible critique of blind patriotism ‘Make Me Sick’) but not enough to wreck the album’s overall upbeat vibe — helped along by power pop sensibilities that are guaranteed to carve silly grins and inspire happy head-bopping out of pogo-inducing efforts like ‘You Are the Fool ‘ ‘Change in You ‘ and ‘New Regime.’ The final balance: by punk rock’s nihilistic and apocalyptic standards this is an overwhelmingly positive record and makes for a righteous half hour of straightforward noncommittal pure punk entertainment fit for old-timers and young saplings alike. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Very few bands can get away with inserting a ‘!’ into their name but Philadelphia punk rock outfit Cranked Up! sure do thanks to the driving varied and always energetic approach qualifying their Blackout Records debut 2005’s This Is a Weapon. A relatively new project for veterans of several separate Philly punk rock concerns and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"content-type":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"product_brand":[7255],"product_cat":[4,16],"product_tag":[41],"class_list":["post-1036","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_brand-creep-records","product_cat-compactdisc","product_cat-_creep","product_tag-41","first","outofstock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n