NO RESISTANCE – Gentlemen Prefer Bombs

It isn’t often I get to compare a punk record to Voltaire’s classic Candide. Yet No Resistance’s effort Gentlemen Prefer Bombs falls into the same plight as Candide himself. As soon as something starts to go right, it all falls apart in a horridly unexpected way.

Gentlemen Prefer Bombs has the warm feel of a 45 RPM single and the fuzz of an old cassette. But the novelty of this feeling wears thin after a listless opening three tracks that are marginal at best. Then comes “Nobody,” a stellar track that would make The Buzzcocks jealous, followed by the awesome “Can’t Reach Me,” which evokes the best chords of SoCal hardcore. Then the closing two tracks come off the rails, with the title track being an unequivocally bad cross-up of The Weirdos and a terrible hard rock cover band.

Overall, No Resistance draws inspiration from the right sources with SoCal hardcore, The Buzzcocks, Minor Threat, and The Dicks coming through. The album is spotlessly produced and has the feel of a classic punk record. The songs aren’t even inconsistent. They are just consistently subpar with the gems being few. This isn’t a terrible record; you’ve just heard similar stuff before, and it was probably better than this.

(Koi Records, 18600 South Parkview #1836, Houston, TX 77084)