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I’m gonna change the title of this column to “Buy this damn album already because I told you to, ok?”. Catchy, right?

Seriously, Middle Class Rut’s No Name No Color is a great album. Take the hypothetical baby from Tom Delonge and Perry Farrell and Cedric Bixler (Three Men and a Baby anyone???), have him front a band that sounds like Death From Above 1979, At The Drive-In, and Queens of the Stone Age with some Tome Morello thrown in for good measure and you will have Middle Class Rut.

Debut album No Name No Color is brilliant. If only I could say just that and end the piece here…but I can’t which means I get to listen to No Name No Color more while I keep typing. So I guess I owe YOU the thanks this time. You can thank me later after you’ve heard Middle Class Rut.

There’s two guys here making all this noise.  Zack Lopez (guitars/vocals) and Sean Stockham (drums/vocals). They switch vocals. Singing drummers are cool. Phil Collins? Brann Dailor? That guy from The Eagles?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prwWpwDGyeM

 

“Busy Bein’ Born” is a declaration. It says “We are the new breed of rock. Don’t fuck with and/or question us.” The song is simple, yet aurally epic and intricate. It makes me want to shout at the heavens. “USA” comes next. It was the one that got me on their Myspace page, too. It thumps, it grinds, it bangs, it rawks.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxmyhX25V0A

 

Single “New Low” is a march. It’s fitting that the video features the band in a chain gang. The low end coming out of the guitar here is sonically spectacular. “Lifelong Dayshift” starts with a screech and much like “Busy…” is a musical declaration. Thunderous drums, subtle harmonies in the chorus, and screams of “Your life, it ain’t worth wasting mine on!” will solidify this one in your memory banks for a long time.

The grooves on No Name No Color are great. The sounds that come out of just two guys is incredible. Middle Class Rut is poised to do great things given the right chance. So give ’em a chance. Please? And maybe buy their album?