17 February, 2006

Time For Biting by The Dents

The Dents are a female fronted Boston punk band known for their excellent live performances and their scathing commentary on love, friendship, and “the scene”. The Dents’ first full-length album, Time For Biting, is a whirlwind of punk rock music that is both extremely catchy and well-polished for such a young group of musicians.
The Dents, like Social Distortion before them, are straddling the fence between all-out rock ‘n’ roll and punk music. Songs like the bouncing opener “One More Time” show the punkiness of The Dents, almost leaning towards a California hardcore sound with the opening guitar riffs. The Dents real punk attitude shines on “Too Late”, an angry DIY anthem aimed at the conformists and nay sayers of punk music. Yet, it is on the fun, almost Guns ‘n’ Roses sounding “Not Through With You” that The Dents begin to embrace their total rock ‘n’ roll side complete with a guitar solo.
Although musically the songs are interesting and well-polished the lyrics are rather trite and most stick to the formula of an angry breakup album. The few songs that move away from the angry breakup formula are some of the most interesting on the album, including the aforementioned “Too Late” aimed at punk-poseurs, and the almost pretty sounding “Goodbye” that talks about a friendship gone bad. “Better Off” is one of the breakup songs that shines on Time For Biting, bringing a Riot Grrrl “I don’t care about him” attitude to the lyrics that makes it all the more powerful. Frontwomen Jennifer D’Angora and Michelle Paulhus alternately share vocals and bring a slurred anger to the music that adds a much needed bite to the overall sound of the music.
The Dents have an extreme amount of potential, with a tight rhythm section, good vocalists, and a powerful, angry sound, making Time For Biting a good start to what will hopefully become a long and interesting career in Boston’s music community. With a little lyrical fine-tuning, the Dents should be well on their way to underground success.

"Nolite bastardes te carborundorum"
-Musicsnob

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