Proud to Be

Album Review

D.F.L. (that's Dead F*cking Last) made this, their first full-length, shortly after being discovered by the record's producer, the Beastie Boys' Adam Horowitz. It isn't that surprising, as the dirty, minute-long, three-chord punk songs sound almost exactly like the Beastie Boys' early hardcore days. Only one track of the 20 included makes it much further than the two-minute mark, and while there are no phenomenal messages on the record, it is an aggressive take on early hardcore and punk that doesn't seem to care if it fails or not. Opening with the obligatory self-referential hardcore anthem, in this case "Proud to Be DFL," the group proceeds to gripe at authority, verbally assault the popular kids, make stupid jokes, and find strength in unity. It isn't anything new, but it doesn't sound new, either, which is pretty impressive. D.F.L. came along at least ten years too late to influence anybody, but the hard work of Minor Threat, Gorilla Biscuits, and much of the Epitaph Records family clearly had a nice hand in all of this. Proud to Be definitely has enough snotty attitude to keep the kids happy, and hopefully anyone who stumbles across this group will also be lucky enough to find out what inspired its creation. D.F.L. are proud because they don't really care at all, and in the end, isn't that what makes a great punk band? ~ Peter J. D'Angelo, Rovi