Before this review, I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to ADOLESCENTS as well as to the family and friends of Steve Soto.
Steve Soto, bassist and founding member of the band, passed away on June 27, 2018, at the age of 54.
Steve's death is certainly a hard blow for the band but also for the fans. Understandably, some concerts have been canceled, and it remains uncertain to what extent the other planned concerts this year will still take place.
Everything could have gone so well. The new album CROPDUSTER is impressive, and the tour through the USA and Europe was booked.
Now there is grief and the opportunity to listen to the new CD to experience the current work of the band and Steve at least acoustically.
The eighteen songs on the album have a major theme, which is Donald Trump and his politics, his demeanor, his despicable self-satisfaction, his ignorance, his arrogance, and the direction in which the world and the USA are heading.
Once it was the land of unlimited possibilities.
The band manages to sound on CROPDUSTER as if they are in their mid-twenties. It comes across as so energetic and fresh. It's amazing when you consider that the band has been around since 1980. Even though not all band members are over 50, they are no longer in their 20s either. Fantastic how ADOLESCENTS have achieved this.
The songs are melodic, powerful, well-played, sometimes even quite playful, and always full of energy. This is the sound I have known and loved since the first melodic punk rock songs were played for me. At a time when the CD was considered the new hot thing.
CROPDUSTER is not only musically impressive but also lyrically.
What the band puts out shows an incredible amount of anger and despair.
Kids die while he’s on the putting green.
We didn’t ask for a go-between.
America’s not great again...just because...fuck you!
You grabbed my pussy
Golf’s a game for suckas...just because...fuck you!
Can’t you smell American aggression?
Do you hear the sound of genocide and exploitation?
Want easy action?
Public education isn’t free
Kids fight for the right
To die in American democracy
These are all lines from songs by CROPDUSTER.
Lyrics that I did not expect to be so clear and that show that the USA and the world may not be completely lost yet. As long as there are people who resist, who think and live differently...there is hope.
The soundtrack for this hope is played by ADOLESCENTS with CROPDUSTER.
