Review by Rachel Jablonski
Legbone: the first thing that comes to mind, a scene from the 1989 film The 'Burbs. The setting: Ray Petersen (Tom Hanks) and his nosy neighbor Art Weingartner (Rick Ducommun) discover a bone that Ray’s dog, Vince, digs up from under the fence which divides Ray’s property from that of his strange neighbors, The Klopeks.
Art: Ray, do you know what this is?
Ray: It's a bone.
Art: It's a femur.
Ray: It's a femur bone.
Art: A femur just happens to be a human thigh bone, Ray.
Ray: Wait, how did you know that?
Art: Biology 101. I mean, look at the size of this thing. You think this
came off a chicken or something? Where did Vince get this?
Ray: Under the fence...
(cut to the fence, then back to Ray and Art)
Art: Ray, there's no doubt anymore. Your neighbors are killing people.
They're hacking them up. They're burying them in their backyard. Ray…
THIS IS WALTER!
(camera rapidly pans in and out as Ray and Art simultaneously scream)
Ray: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Art: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
What does this have to do with the band Legbone and their latest release Different Path? Really, only that both the scene from The 'Burbs and the band’s name contain reference to lower extremity bone and both works of art compel a sinister mood. Anytime I can quote something from The 'Burbs I can’t pass it up, come on.
About a nine on the tension scale, Different Path is an intense display of heavy punk music that is not quite metal, but not entirely punk. The guitar riffs are deep and powerful ranging beyond the basic, typical punk chord progressions. “Swallowing Razorblades” begins the album massively with menacing guitar distortion for an awesomely intense intro. The metal-like riffs are capturing and set the tone of the album. When the distorted intro comes to a close in breaks heavy punk style chords loud and fast.
PUNK ROCK… is it worth fighting for screams “What You Are,” reiterating the punk roots of Dayton, Ohio’s Legbone. True to many punk albums, the record is short, approximately 25 minutes in duration, revealing a solid flavor, short and sweet in the making. The dominant factor in the song is the off beat bass drum that is randomly, yet somehow sensibly, maneuvered giving the song a neat complicated sound. Stressing the metal roots, “Rocker” shakes up the punk pace with rhythmic guitar that breaks out of chord progressions. The album follows similar patterns, mixing up metal and punk, allowing the album to be moving, in the literal sense of wanting to get up and jump around.
Also moving are vocals matching the pace and intensity of the music. The vocal patterns and tones in “Skate Park” are most fun with the normal chants mixed with a crazier reverberated vocal which humorously ends the song. The lyrics on the album are also amusing, particularly I’ll try to see these things from your point of view but I cannot get my head that far up my ass from “Swallowing Razorblades” and I turn away for just a minute next thing ya know my friend’s up in it and I got cock blocked I got cock blocked from “Cock Blocked.” Other lyrics are a little more thought provoking than comical. The title track is an introspective look at the results of life choices. What would have ever become of me if I took a different path what would I turn out to be a preacher a lawyer a corrupted judge or working in the oil fields swimming in the sludge a doctor an engineering a computer geek… I take responsibility for the decisions I have made I don’t feel sorry for the people who always complain what if I what if I.
Mind your own business… MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! Reuben Klopek (Brother Theodore) screams to Ray Peterson in a dream somewhere in the middle of The 'Burbs. Mind your own fucking business Legbone similarly warns in “Mind Your Own Business.” The correlations between the movie and the band are endless in my warped mind. But Legbone is its own entity with a favorable music pattern aimed to rile metal and punk fans alike.