Three New Punk Rock Albums to Check Out in October/November 2022 - Sic Waiting, Craig's Brother, Charlie Bit My Finger

It's been quite a busy month with a lot of live shows that we have been covering, but I wanted to do a quick write-up on three albums that have recently come out that I think you are really going to enjoy if you like punk music. 

Sic Waiting - A Fine Hill to Die On - 4.6 out of 5 stars

This album might be one that goes down as a top 10 punk album of the year, in my opinion. There are some absolute anthems on here.

Three songs I would say are going to catch your attention would be, “One Fell Swoop,” “Life on Fire,” and “Fireworks.” 

Those are not the only good songs on the album by any means, but they are ultra catchy, and the lyrics aren’t overly complicated so you will be able to sing along to them all by the end of the first listen.

A couple other songs that I would say will rock your face as well are “Bad Times” and “Neon.” So, don’t sleep on those songs either.

The Oceanside, California punk band has been around for quite some time, but this is their first full length album since 2015 – an album called Derailer.

The new album was produced by punk legend Cameron Webb and released on Thousand Island Records.

Craig’s Brother - Easily Won, Rarely Deserved - 4.4 out of 5 stars

The new album from Santa Cruz, California’s punk godfathers Craig’s Brother is a well-executed skate-punk banger that reminds me of a “poor man’s version” of Lagwagon’s Let’s Talk About Feelings. It’s got a lot of the same musical elements. It just doesn’t have the production bells and whistles. 

Of course, as that Lagwagon album is one of my favorite albums of all time, I won’t stretch out and say that it is quite as good, but it is still a really good album that I have gotten more and more interested in the more I listen to it (and have listened to the full album about 4 or 5 times in the last week).

One of the best songs on the album for me is “Out of Your Hole” which is a song about all the neo-fascist shitheads who crawled out of hiding when a certain neo-fascist rich boy decided to run for president (and somehow win) and subsequently trigger a bunch of racist and sexist bigotry…and BOLDLY state this rhetoric in public.

The band has been around since the mid-90’s, but like many bands didn’t really remain active in the “dark years of punk” (2005-2019). And also like many other punk bands, now that the pandemic allowed for bands time to regroup and get back to making music, they too have put out their first album since 2011 (The Insidious Lie).

The band is definitely full of social commentary and at times are tongue and cheek about their perspectives.

A good example of that would be the song “Terrible Slave” which is not just a great melody, but the lyrics are a great anti-social, anti-conformist message about breaking away from the crowd. This would have been right up my alley when I was in high school (which was in the late 90’s as well).

Other songs on the album I recommend: “Rodeo Clown”, “Ghost”

Charlie Bit My Finger - Back and Fourth - 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Belgian rock band Charlie Bit My Finger has just put out their 4th album (hence the misspelling in the album title), and it is a good amalgamation of punk, hardcore, and even a bit of nu metal (and added hip hop influence).

Normally, I would not be a fan of something with nu metal sounds, but overall this album rips. I definitely am not a fan of the bit of rapping in the song “Stand Up” as I just never really understood the appeal of rap-rock. I will say in this instance it is a bit more old school Papa Roach sounding than Limp Bizkit or something. So, it’s tolerable for me there.

However, that little piece of music aside, the rest of the album is pretty damn good. Even the rest of that song is great.

“Breaking Out” is the first song on the album, and it rips. I also really like “Hold Your Breath” which is the 3rd song on the album. That song really reminds me of some of the great pop-punk and skate-punk but with a fresh new voice.

The 14 songs only run about 34 minutes as most of the songs run less than 2:30 but there are a couple of longer songs as well that really balance out the album and give variation instead of just blasting through a bunch of songs really fast.

The emo sound of the band is definitely highlighted in the song “The Unknown.” But then it is a faster song and only runs 1:46 which is kinda anti-emo in format. So, it’s a good showcase of their ability to bend genres to make their own sound.

Another cool song on the album that sounds incredibly familiar is “Forever Young.” For some reason, it sounds like a song from one of them punk compilations from back in the day, but I can’t put my finger on which one. One thing is for sure, it is definitely NOT a cover of the famous Rod Stewart song nor the Alphaville song of the same name.