E IS FOR EXBATS by THE EXBATS

For the first three songs, I was totally engrossed.  Songs with kick-ass opening lines grab me quick, and the simple, driving drum-and-guitar kept my head shaking and my legs moving.  “Are we…Are we…Are we…Deeeaaaad yeeeet?”  That’s the opener.  The first line of the album asks if we’re done already.  Then, song two: “I got fights and I fight and I fight every day…” 
 
Yeah, it’s punk. 
 
Then: “She watches sports on TV/she’s got more friends than me/Oh yeah, everybody loves my mom/She’s got more drugs than me/She gives them out for free/ Oh yeah, everybody loves my mom…”
 
It’s not until the fourth song, “2027,” that my brain comes back to life, having been lost in a trance, and I realize: This is the Ramones.  It’s the formula: Excellent one-liners, simple, retro music, and a message of alienated rage dressed up as 1950s garage music.
 
Yeah.  It’s definitely punk.
 
There are very few songs on this album that don’t quite make it all the way, and ironically one of them is Hercules, the first single.  I don’t really want to hear The Exbats singing about mythology.  I want to hear about how they’re gonna kill your boyfriend ‘cause he’s dumb.
 
A most excellent album that I suspect I’ll be listening to for years to come.