I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band and saying that they just sound like Marked Men would be selling them short. Probably why people say “for fans of” instead? Started as a solo project by North Carolina’s Ben Carr from Last Year’s Men and Natural Causes among others, Personality Cult does not sound particularly like Carr’s earlier, noisier and garage-y-er output.
There’s so many punk subgenres these days I can't keep track -- Chain Punk, Boot Wave, Epifat, lol I mean what is that? I know what they are but who knows if my definition is the same as your definition. Personality Cult don’t really fall into any of those but I can maybe hear bits and pieces of all of them. They’re just punk. Like you know how allegedly a bunch of British kids saw the Ramones back in ‘76 and started their own bands then when North American kids heard the first wave British punk bands they, in turn, interpreted them in their own ways and started their own bands?
So does Personality Cult sound like Ramones, Sex Pistols and Black Flag? Maybe/maybe not but they definitely sound like they’re aware of their lineage. I went back and listened to their earlier stuff and to me it sounds like they’ve come into their own. The Jeff Burke hooks are there for sure but with slightly less Ramones and slightly more Pistols or early Damned and a touch of that first wave US hardcore aggression. Would it be easier to just say this record has a “classic Dirtnap” sound? Easier sure but also less accurate. Personality Cult’s lineup includes Stephen Svacina who played in Mind Spiders with members of Marked Men, Bad Sports and Radioactivity, so "Denton sound" maybe, but to confuse the two would mean you need to dig a lot deeper into the Dirtnap catalog!
Dilated’s first track, “Anticipating Action”, starts with a pretty straight forward 4/4 drum beat, nothing flashy but draws you in right from the get go. The second song is even better! Now I wouldn't say every song is better than the last BUT the next song is a total ear worm too. Simple but infectious choruses, another device maybe borrowed from Marked Men, had songs like “Perfect Crime” stuck in my head for days. All killer no filler, the kind of album that leaves you wanting more. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery so don’t be surprised if there’s a song that sounds like Personality Cult on the next Night Court record.
