Why not a higher rating? The reasons are threefold.
First, a little bit of Karp goes a long ways. Don't get me wrong, I love
these guys particular brand of extra-gritty, super-screamy,
heavier-than-grunge (secretly pop) rock. The sheer intensity, however,
can make even the tuffest punk's head hurt. Their albums, or their
singles individually, are great, because they pummel in doses that mortal
humans can withstand. Action Chemistry provides no less than one
full hour of straight Karp. Whew! It's hard to talk all in one sitting.
Second, singles and leftovers compilations are, by nature, spotty. You
get the highs, like a incredibly massive cover of Black Flag's "Nothing
Left Inside." This old school punk attitude reminded me of the last time
I saw Karp play live, and they got into a fight with the entire audience.
That little slice of danger, however, is followed up by "Pistol Whipped,"
from their first recording session ever, and sounds like they are just
slogging that mess out as fast as they can. Not so good.
Third, Karp definitely got better as they went along. The early
recordings, from 1993-94, are the hardest to take. Karp was always pretty
raw, and really ugly, but those first songs are exceptionally raw and
particularly ugly. Their final single (and last release), however, was
the fantastic "Prison Shake/Rowdy" single. On those tracks, the riffs
are sharp, the band is tight, and they have, underneath the suffocating
distortion, a sense of melody entirely lacking from their earlier work.
That said, Karp will kick your ass. Buy their back catalogue
(Karp, Suplex, and Moustaches Wild, in order of
importance, all available from K
Records) or be a pussy.
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