The third album by Boston's
Slapshot
, 1990's
Sudden Death Overtime
proudly ignores all the trends that had overtaken
hardcore
since their 1984 debut: no
metal
moves by the guitarists, no plodding, weed-infused
Black Sabbath
-like dirge tempos from the rhythm section, no dorky growling from singer
Choke Kelly
, just straight-ahead
straight-edge
. The tempos are a hair slower, perhaps, but songs like
"Punk's Dead, You're Next"
and the righteous
"War on Drugs"
bristle with well-directed anger, and the shoutalong
"Get Me Out"
is as close as the band had yet come to a regular
pop
song. Extra points for the deadpan sarcasm on the
Huesker Due
-like
cover of
Jefferson Airplane
's
"White Rabbit"
as well. At a time when
itself, never mind
, was on the ropes,
proved that some bands were still in the game. ~ Stewart Mason