When you get down to it, most of post-hardcore music sounds as if its descended from anything but punk and hardcore. Pop, rock, metal, its all thereexcept for the real roots of the music. Nobody, it seems, feels comfortable with putting the hardcore in post-hardcore.
Nobody, but As Friends Rust. Though the band takes on a style of music as far removed from Minor Threat as Jets to Brazil is from the Clash, theres still enough less-than-subtle hints and influences on An Anthology of Short Fiction and Non-Fiction to show the bands debt to classic punk rock.
Most the most obvious debt on this record, a collection of the bands singles and EP tracks, is a cover of the Circle Jerks "Operation." Aggravated and loud, it has all anger and energy, and most importantly, desperation, of the original. Passionate rage may have gone out of vogue with the 80s, though the band pulls its wrath straight from the gut on this track.
Token nods toward seminal Los-Angeles punk bands arent the only ties to punk roots As Friends Rust makes on this album. From the whirling guitar and bass figures on "Home is Where the Heart Aches," that threaten to whirl out of control at any moment, to the terse drumming of "When People Result to Name-Calling," to the reckless vocal tracks on "The First Song on the Tape You Make Her," this album takes on its share of punk vigor. Fiery and rambunctious, As Friends Rust isnt afraid to get down to the business of rocking on the seven tracks featured on this collection.
While 90 percent of the emo world desperately attempts to sever its ties with its punk roots, spinning off into pop and metal directions, As Friends Rust is one of the few acts making its music a fitting heir to the empire started by the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Just like hardcore became the next chapter in the punk story in the early 80s, As Friends Rust continues the tradition of carrying on punk rocks artistic development with a set full of energy and pride. While the band wont rewrite punk history, let alone secure its self a place in punk mythology, with An Anthology of Short Fiction and Non-Fiction, it does give all the bands attempting to take emo from its roots a much deserved kick in the nuts.
