Texas Platters

Lower Class Brats

The New Seditionaries (TKO)

More than a decade into their existence, Austin's Lower Class Brats haven't lost an ounce of adolescent piss and vinegar. If anything, the veteran quartet's sneering Brit-punk broadside has aged like a not-so-fine wine, slowly honed to its embittered essence. There aren't a lot of surprises on The New Seditionaries, but after a bad day at the whipping factory, a surprise is the last thing you need. The Brats' growling, call-and-response anthems offer the kind of restorative oomph best washed down with cheap domestic beer, and who better to lead the revival than feral-voiced prophet Bones DeLarge? Long after most mortals would be reduced to communicating with obscene hand gestures, DeLarge's hardcore pipes reign front and center on "Go Insane." The fist-pumping title track shouts out to soldiers, dykes, prostitutes, and punks, proclaiming them all new seditionaries, while rollicking instrumental "Lip Music" surges on the strength of an R&B-flavored piano guest shot from Fastball's Tony Scalzo. Jilted johns get speedy shots of sonic rebuttal on "Two in the Heart" and "Don't Care About Me," the latter of which garners extra credit with the choice lyric "You're like a broken record. I wish you'd die!"