OBN III’s – The One and Only

After an excellent 7″ earlier this year, OBN III’S are back with a brand new record on Tic Tac Totally that takes those ideas and throws them on a larger and grandiose scale, containing epic results that none of us could have ever seen coming.

Said without much difficulty, this is an uncontested heavyweight record from front to back, no questions asked. Come to think of it, from this year alone, it’s definitely a task to try and find a record that can actually keep up with this one, let alone surpass it altogether. On their record, Orville Bateman Neeley III and the gang left behind literally ALL of the bullshit and put forth every ounce of their efforts into this snotty and bloodied up garage-punk mess, where things range from a rockin’ good time to bloodthirsty and uncompromising punk rock. Much like that Audacity 7″ we covered the other week, this is another record where the youthful exuberance is off the charts as they dominate everything in their sight.

Pummeling power chords beat your face mercilessly in songs like “No Enemies” and “Communicated to Death”, til the point where you feel that anxiously accelerated rush in every last track. At the same time, other tracks like “Wager My Heart” and “You Ain’t My Friend” are driven by rowdy guitar licks that are as sloppy as they are disastrous. Focusing more on “Wager My Heart”, it’s a totally twangin’ ass kicker that comes in at just the right time to supply another spark for the last leg of the record. Messy guitars twang and punish in unison as they stop for nothing in their destructive path and considering this album is twelve tracks long, well, you still have lots to get through before the madness has ceased and you can breathe again.

Going from that, it’s still not a stretch to call every last one of these tracks a highlight. “New Innocence”, for example, proves every last one of our claims til the death. They plow through this rowdy number with barrels smoking and fires roaring, rolling carelessly without any regret into high voltage and blazing guitar work that will force you up and out of your seat as the electricity courses through your veins. In the process, they create this roughly invigorating bridge that will literally sweep your off your feet before they slow it all down. A bit later on the track “Don’t Feel Fine” seems to have a folksy/country edge somewhere under the crunchy guitar filth, while “New Dark Age” is literally a song on it’s own on this record. The springy bass line right away sounds like uncharted territory, once again proving these dudes have endless tricks up their ragged sleeves.

Coming to the home stretch, “Kick Me Out” is the grand finale, which has the power to bring another track like “Heavy Heart” to mind, yet it literally blows it out of the water. As if we needed another song (no seriously, we did) to help us show why this is one of our favorite albums on the year, this mischievous group of Texans have really outdone themselves this time. There’s no way we could have predicated such a well-rounded and cohesive record from someone dabbling in the punk rock game, but OBN III’s did just that by sticking to one single sound and making it vary from track to track. Needless to say, this is excellent stuff, so get on it NOW.

My Rating: 9.5/10
Genre/ Tags: Punk, Garage Rock, Alternative
The One and Only: Tracklist:
1.) If the Shit Fits
2.) No Enemies
3.) Can’t Wait til You Shut Up
4.) New Innocence
5.) Get Off Yr Knees
6.) First World Problems
7.) Communicated to Death
8.) Wager My Heart
9.) Don’t Feel Fine
10.) You Ain’t My Friend
11.) Kick Me Out