Orange County's neo-
punk rockers
Bullets and Octane make the most of their leap to a major label on
In the Mouth of the Young: they take full advantage of their increased budget by hiring
Helmet's
Page Hamilton as their producer and then using a topless
Suicide Girl wannabe nursing an infant for their front cover art.
Hamilton is to catch a listener's ear, the girl is to catch the attention of potential listeners scanning the record bins or thumbnail jpegs on the Web, and both moves work. The
Helmet guitarist gives these
Social Distortion-styled punkers an exacting, razor-sharp sound that might give a little bit too much focus to their reckless sleaze, but it's undoubtedly an improvement over their promising indie 2004 debut
Revelry, which had the basic sound but needed muscle and direction, two things they have in spades on
In the Mouth of the Young. Even with
Hamilton's
alt-metal makeover and the heavy
Social Distortion influence,
Bullets and Octane have too much L.A. sleaze to sound like true punkers, but that's to their benefit here: it gives their music muscle and grease. And while at times the album can sound a little prefabricated -- just enough to give
RCA something easy to sell --
Bullets and Octane have enough hooks and energy to make this record work, and their embrace of both L.A.
punk and L.A.
metal gives them a bit of distinctive sound. Perhaps they're just a shade too polished and precise to be the reckless
punk rockers they aspire to be, but as far as major-label retro-
punk goes in 2006, this is a strong listen, since
Bullets and Octane have style and swagger in equal measure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
![Midnights [Jade Green Edition] [Edited]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602448247032_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Midnights [Jade Green Edition] [Edited]")
