By Rich Horton

Sometimes bands get it terribly right, they know their audience, they know their place as far as the music goes and they know how to rock. The Skullcranes seem to get it, and that formula is working to make them a successful local band who hopefully will go beyond the midwest and create a national stir.Mixing up punk rock attitude with ferocious metal and rock riffs, this band gets to the point, most of the time in just over two minutes and sometimes under two minutes. None of the lyrics are serious and from the first track you can see they don’t mind making fun of white trash upbringings and jean shorts. (It’s probably time to throw mine away).

The first five tracks are balls to the wall and heavy, but when they get to track 6 poignantly titled “Douche” they revert to a fast yet mellower 12 bar blues rhythm. They also take a few shots at some local suburban cities with songs like “Maplewouldn’t” and “Livin’ La Vidanoka”.

If your in to the arty indie stuff that this city seems to be thriving on lately, you probably won’t get into The Skullcranes. If you don’t mind getting drunk on some cheap beers and chanting “Dang, Jessica Lange”, this band will do it for you every time.