Common Hate                                                                                                                                                                   2011: A Space Odyssey

Common Hate sound a lot like what they are: angry, frustrated, small town punks. They have the good sense to focus their energy and songwriting on what they know. More than honest, they offer a sense of place with their rage. “Is there something wrong with us?/Maybe it’s just you” Sam Kuhns sings on “Wrong.”

Songs like “Suckerpunch” offers up tempo changes with some metal touches. Common Hate aren’t strict punk purists and want to see if you’re paying attention.

This disc offers their thoughts on such modern problems as “Zombie Slamdance,” clearly the one zombie problem which has yet to be properly addressed.

Common Hate rail against backstabbers, rumor mongers , and small town boredom. But the standout track, the one which makes me curious as to where these angry young men might possibly be headed is “Fear and Loathing in Cape Canaveral.“

More than a nod to the late great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, this acknowledgement of their biggest source of impediment is a town they’ve been in a bit too long. A town whose charms they are no longer able to appreciate.

This contempt could propel them forward or inadvertently tie them down, if they’re not careful. Should Common Hate continue to grind this axe, they may yet slip the bonds confining them and find new towns in which to display their disaffected anger, or become one of those bitter acts that refuses do anything far and away, content to grouse in front of a handful of friends, who’ve all seen them play a million times before in the same damn bar.

I hope they hit the road and find out what I believe they are made of rather than sit around and learn to tolerate the situation.

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