Locals Only

Album Review

One of the key skatepunk bands of the early Oxnard scene, Agression deserved the buzz their early singles and compilation appearances got. However, by the time of the 1987 show captured on the Locals Only reissue, the band's original energy had long since dissipated, and the results are fairly painful. In between singer Mark Hickey's meandering stage raps, the band bash through a bunch of songs both old and new, with their original hardcore blur slowed down into a much more generic, metal-tinged sound that hasn't aged well. Agression standards like the sneering title track, "Dear John Letter" and "Slammin' at the Club" aren't quite perfunctory, but it's clear that the band's heart isn't really in this performance. Originally released under the title Agression 87, first as a cassette-only title and later as a mid-'90s CD, this edition is expanded by several other live tracks that simply make the album longer, not better.