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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just risky enough to be a great CD, April 15, 2008
I am a huge Casualties fan, and have been since I first heard of them. I own factory or burnt copies of all their CDs and love them all, but I'm not gonna lie, if they put out another song like "Die Hards" about how "They're the punx" I would probably shoot myself.
Finally they took all that raw energy and put it to use.
Don't get me wrong, the old music is probably better, "For the Punx" will always be a classic, but as an open minded person I will gladly say that I did not want another "For the Punx." I wanted this band to evolve into something that could be fun and also meaningful. It took long enough but they finally did it.
Musically this is the same Casualties we know and love. Perfect unity of a single six string and a bass that both shine incredibly. Fast paced drums and screaming vocals. Actually, Jorge does actually tone it down a little bit on this CD, and in songs like "VIP" and "Down and Out" I'm not really sure whether I would call the vocals screaming or singing. I'm pretty sure Jorge can't sing so I'm gonna call it mild screaming. It doesn't sound too bad though. The music does slow down a little on some of the tracks, but not many, and most of the beats are still the super energy filled anthems that you wanna create the biggest effing circle pit ever to. Songs like "System Failed Us Again" and "No Solution No Control" have speed and noise that rivals their old works. Put good lyrics into this and I will be bold enough to say that I would rather listen to "Fallen Heroes" than "Punx & Skins"
Lyrically is where this album shines. Gone are the days of "Drinking is a way of liiiiiiiife man" because, let's face it, it's not. This CD sees the Casualties continuing to attack the political angle with songs like "Under Attack" and "Without Warning" which is like a CNN news report with music in the background. Along with war, we also have domestic issues addressed, and then even better are the songs that deal with social issues among young people ("VIP" "Social Outcast" and "Fallen Heroes")
This is an awesome album from start to finish. This is one band that can keep their sound while they mature and know exactly how and how not to try new things. I can't really say which tracks are the best because, c'mon people, it's the Casualties, so it's all amazing. Contrary to what I usually say I would say that new fans should start here buy this one first, then "For the Punx," and then depending on which one you like better, choose your direction.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yes! No more 'OMG DRUNK PUNX' crap!, October 20, 2006
A Kid's Review
Their songs finally have a point.
They are finally listenable.
I was fearing that they would go back to their old crappy street punk style with this album instead of continuing with the fairly good political hardcore punk style they started working with when they released 'On The Front Line', and I'm glad they're still going in OTFL's direction! Good album.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The new Casualties sound with a few minor changes, September 27, 2006
Under Attack sounds very similiar to On the Front Line, and there really aren't that many differences between the two to be honest. Both have excellent production, a more hardcore oriented approach to punk rock, and better musicianship than their older releases. The music and song structures are a little bit more creative than OTFL, with a lot of songs having slightly different song structures and the guitar work being more interesting. The guitar solos have improved as well. They even threw in an instrumental track! These are slight differences however, and essentially this is OTFL the sequel.
One element they carried over from the last release that they took a bit further was the political nature of their lyrics. Just about every song on here has some political connotation to it, including a song about Communist organizer and folk singer Woodie Guthrie. There are plently of generic rebellious lyrics about politicians being evil, "the system" being evil, and immigrants having a hard time in America. Their last release had a lot of these lyrics as well, but not to the same extent. OTFL's lyrics were also better in my opinion but you can't really understand Jorge most of the time anyway, and the shouted choruses that you can are usually pretty catchy. Older Casualties' songs have plently of lyrics about society and the system being evil or oppressive, but with these new songs they often try to get more speicific and blatently political. Gone are the days when they would sing songs about political punks being preachy and over the top. These are still enjoyable songs however.
Most of the songs sound very similiar but a few stand outs are No Solution-No Control, Under Attack, and Without Warning.
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by The Casualties 
