{"id":29169,"date":"2026-10-22T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=29169"},"modified":"2026-10-19T19:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:08:38","slug":"fake-names-punk-ruins-epitaph-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=29169","title":{"rendered":"Fake Names – ‘Punk Ruins’ (Epitaph Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Having been suitably impressed with the first two albums from Fake Names, getting familiar with ‘Punk Ruins’ was always going to be a no-brainer. Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion) and Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, The Faith), vocalist Dennis Lyxz\u00e9n (Refused, INVSN), bassist Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and new drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From The Crypt, Off!)\u2014have managed to capture a moment once again and with a real organic-sounding slab of sound, it embraces a lot of subgenres and moulds them into further proof that if you have class, then that is permanent and not just fleeting. The album has mature, solid songs that burrow into your ear on every play, digging in a little further each play. From the opening one-two, ‘Until Normal and ‘Good Days’ you have pleasant ins that have a mass appeal before the punchy, ragged hook of the title track kicks you in the head with a catchy chorus that’s dragging the guitars by the snout as the rhythm section sounds like a mountain sliding out of your speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That grunt of the bass is muscular and commanding whilst the melodies of the vocals often veer into power pop territory but wrapped in some pretty decent overdriven guitar chops. Instead of trying to recreate a certain era from their accumulated backgrounds, they’ve just picked up ideas from the ether and sped off with them, creating something exciting and one that has mass appeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded at the legendary Electrical Audio studios in Chicago with producer Matthew Barnhardt (Superchunk, Bob Mould), like Fake Names\u2019 2020 self-titled debut, these recordings were originally planned to be demos but turned out to be so good they couldn’t stay on the shelves and demanded to be album number three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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