4 Past Midnight
Guilty As Charged
By Jillian Abbene
(SugarBuzz Richmond)
SugarBuzz Magazine
Scotland’s rugged terrain perhaps has instilled fortitude upon the 4 Past Midnight crew. No doubt, fiercer than their previous CD, “Trials & Tribulations,” their prescription for deliberate fundamental 80’s punk is instinctually gruff. Since they derived from that 80’s scene, innate elements are incorporated into their songs that can only be captured from that time, and they should know—they were there.
The opening recording in, ‘Only A Memory,’ is equated to the streets as 4PM delivers a steady groove of metal street punk within three-chorded guitar. Pete, the lead vocalist, has vocals as sharp as glass that is all within the catchy gang vocal-shouts. With the shift changes to a slower thud-drum-n-cymbal syncopation, it winds down as the dense beat repeats in hammering chords—all on the same note. Ending in the raw and basic, the drum-thuds pushes it to the end.
With four tings on cymbal, staccato drums and sling-shot guitar plots to, ‘Fuck ‘em All.’ It’s all in classic oi, with conservative ‘hey-ho’s between streams of guitar. Simultaneously, Pete croons on verse and is met by chorus woh’s. It’s the drum and cymbal that spins into machine-gun mode, riding underneath Pete’s crooning. In the chorus, it is joined by the 4 PM crew, ending in the eminent quickened pace of the drum and cymbals again, driven to a crash.
The expressive yet tearful intro in, ‘Going Underground,’ is a great sarcastic yet heart-felt narrative. Its writhing metal chords burst in with a flick of a switch. I like this song. Two-times around, the drum pounds ride hard on the steady surge of guitar chords. Further, it’s the gang-participated shouts, ‘no-no-no!’ the catchy chorus attached to Pete’s holding chorus that nicks the earlier influences of none other than Social Distortion. The M8 balconies the melody with additional triplicate drum rolls all on the syncopations, ending with fuelled guitar with the hold on the squeal—just in time to fade.
The bass chugs in with a crawl along with the high hat and drum pedal intro on, ‘4 PM Crew Part II.’ The hard-hitting beat and the steady tempo plods through the catchy, simple, yet spirited chorus. This song should be hailed as the 4 PM crew anthem with a deserving applause. Prevalent tinned-out guitar strokes is the framework in the rock ‘n roll spliced M8 as the last drum roll wraps it up with hard strokin’ chords and a bass scale of arpeggios that impresses with a complete crashed out ending.
In, ‘Waste Away,’ the solitary bass is along guitar strokes once again. One clean guitar sear, sneers before the woh’s wind up the energy and hands it over to Pete. Rattling staccatoed “heys” jot in between verse. Bolstering to a split-second silencer, the M8 picks up the beat. Chris’s accapella bass-crawl sets it up for Pete’s solo croon-out. With intricate guitar twiddlings and a single guitar sear again, Pete closes it with machine-gun scratch verses ending it all on a high note.
Clearly, the fiercest song on the CD, ‘Solution To War,’ is deemed appropriate. Slowly winding up for the punch with long guitar pulls, the drum pedal and bass twiddlings are the precursor to the steadfast double-speed barrage of Marky’s savage scratch guitar. Here, Pete’s vocals are venomous. Hardcore dirgier chords are slower with a groove that switches to repeat the first verse. Outfitting raw energy, the starts/stops hold strong for the circle pit of non-stop brutality to the end.
Somber distorted piano notes trail through the opening recording—to only be hit twice with an onslaught of beat-on-guitar, and cannonballing to surging guitar and drum thuds. Menace guitar sears make way before it snaps back to the driving chords. Before a reprieve of silence breaks, bass collides with hardcore thud-drums. Pete’s voracious vocals are dead-on. Shifting tempo from a groove to heart-pounding metal--all in that circle-pit pace.
‘Gordon,’ is a charismatic unplugged drinking song that opens up to a pulsating street punk tune. The time changes in the M8, then reduced to slower thumps, is inclusive with gang chorus just long enough to savor the biting lyrical content. Further, just as the listener retains the lyrics, the speed crashes at the cymbals.
The last song is the Ramones’ cover, ‘Pinhead,’ -- my Ramones’ favorite. Despite the guitars are a bit heavier than the original version, the opening reverberating lyrics, “D-U-M-B everyone’s accusing me…” is crystal clear. Stripping the song down to a blitzkrieg of guitar power, the finale gabba-gabba-heys repeat magnificently, picking up speed to the end.
Struggling throughout the years to smash the listener’s ears of mainstream rock, 4 PM is determined not to be forgotten. With summer plans of touring the USA with The Angst, you better go pick up a copy of, ‘Guilty As Charged,’ on STP Records: www.myspace.com/stprecordsuk or www.interpunk.com before they breeze right passed your town.
[Note: I’ll be front and center at the July 15th; show at The Sidebar in Baltimore, MD…can’t wait!]