[3.5/5]
Exploding with an irrepressible childish glee akin to the school bell tolling the start of summer vacation, Baltimore duo the Death Set sound like the Go! Team riding Atari Teenage Riot bareback. The vocals are a shouted chorus over bubbling beats and churning guitar distortion filtered through a redlining Casiotone MIDI. As much spasms as songs, the album's 18 tracks won't fill a half-hour but still leave you breathless. If Daft Punk had enjoyed more Circle Jerks, they might've spewed noisy screeds like the cynicism-assailing "Negative Thinking" or "Peak Oil," with its refrain, "You'll be walking everywhere, I'll be walking everywhere." While occasionally biting too hard on American hardcore ("Day In The Wife"), they're at their best when they're ramshackle, as on "Moving Forward," with its folk-punk acoustic opening, or the careening, off-the-rails rush of "Heard It All Before." TDS' debut full-length captures punk's careless mischief and re-keys it for the new millennium. (COUNTER) Chris Parker
 Official Website: http://www.counterrecords.com
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