Forgotten Rebels: Criminal Zero (1994)

Having failed to connect with the hair-metal contingent in 1989, The Forgotten Rebels (more HERE) returned in 1994 with their ...wait for it...grunge album. (Check out the fish-eye lens photo on the back cover *eye roll*). Typically of the thirty-something punks who felt a bit cheated, rightly perhaps, by these these flannel pretenders, the Rebels tried to make their sound thicker, louder, uglier and less tuneful. The results, like the pretty-crappy "Do It To You", are predictably mixed - especially in the early going.





While the first half of the album has the passable single "Buried Alive" and some tried-n-true smutty Rebel-isms like "Autosuck" and "Karaoke Night in Attica" it's the end of the album where the band really pulls out of this potential nose-dive. After running through a batch of loud and often-cheerless numbers, the band stops to cover of the punk/new wave rarity, "Views" by the Sex-Pistols-related band the Lightning Raiders and things take a quick turn for the greater. "New Flag" sounds like vintage Rebels and "Shit For Brains" is tacky-as-hell but sure does play to DeSadest & co.'s strengths.

MRML readers, whaddya make of the Forgotten Rebels grunge album? Let us know where you stand in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Criminal Zero CD link).

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