It's easy to hear Bass Drum of Death's "High School Roaches" as a reaction to The Ramones' "Rock 'n' Roll High School," which describes the generic frustrations of adolescence from the perspective of a stereotypical teenage boy, whose angst is expressed in the form of a fantasy punk-rock mutiny. Bass Drum of Death takes a different approach while invoking the same sort of youthful aggression.
The Mississippi duo cleverly conveys post-pubescent anxiety in its instrumentation, with the guitar oozing manic dissonance and the drums pounding at full throttle, providing the lethal, thudding backdrop the band's name promises. In this way, the muffled, often indiscernible words are forced into the background as the fuzzy, strung-out sounds take over. And let's face it: Even when high school is a distant memory, those brief, intense bouts of anger and pent-up frustration still surface every so often. "High School Roaches" is a perfect form of release — it heaps up mounds of high tension, but in the most cathartic and enjoyable possible way.
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