For those of you (like me) who enjoy judging books by covers, beware of THE HIDDEN! I took one look at the spiny, illegible logo on the front cover and the lackluster overall design, and I was fully prepared to be put to sleep by some generic death metal and/or hardcore. Upon pushing play, I sat back, closed my eyes and expected the worst. I was immediately jolted out of my lethargy when the four-on-the-floor drum stomp and dueling axe work of the opening track "Feed" kicked in. All was right in the world.

This is straight up old school punk. Think about a slightly slowed-down BAD RELIGION with DANZIG-y vocals, and you might have an idea of what these cats sound like. Performances are energetic and tight. Production by superstar knob-tweaker Steve Albini is suitably lean n' mean. My only real quibble with the disc is the constant panning between speakers of the dual guitars gets kinda irritating. I was constantly swatting at imaginary flies around my head during tracks like "The Goat" and "Archaeology" because of this.

So maybe the horrible graphic design was a savvy marketing ploy to make listeners underestimate them before they're pleasantly surprised by the music. Well, it worked! Good show, my fellow New Englanders! Here's to lowered expectations!

- Broadbent

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/thehidden

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: The Goat

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