Crashing out, formerly meaning off to bed, jumped the literary shark recently – in case you missed the memo from middle school. Employ it now when stressing hard and on the verge of melodrama. “Going Insane,” a stomp mosh batting third on American Sharks’ corker Not Dead Yet, projects party-punk visions of a “magic pillow,” demon reptile flashbacks and time warps bouncing, thrashing, and throwing elbows. “I’m crashing out, run – run, run! I feel I’m going insane – run, run!” Feels like that all the time now for a vast majority of Earthly inhabitants. And yet, bottling the locals’ third full-length and first in six interminable, pandemic-intervening years, the song acts as an antidote by biting into a pure sugar rush, cathartic blowout of burst-artery proportions. Singing bassist Roky Moon and drumming entrepreneur Nick Cornetti host a host of shredists – Zach Blair (Rise Against), Mike Derks (GWAR), Leo Lydon (Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol), Kyle Shutt (the Sword), Dave Sullivan (Red Fang) – and light up their best album by miles. 2013 bow American Sharks gnashed metallic, while 2019’s delayed 11:11 swung back more hardcore. Not Dead Yet hits it just right, American Sharks’ explosive live freakouts finally contained on nine Cheap-Trick-becomes-Green Day tracks in 26 inflamed minutes of anthemic emotion and neck lacerations.

This article appears in April 17 • 2026.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.