Mongrel - Fear, Lies & Propaganda
  Genre: Punk/Metal
  Release Date: 2006
  Label: Immolation Records
  Band’s Web Site: http://www.mongrelband.com

Mongrel is a punk band based in New Hampshire. "A punk band? But I thought you guys only covered metal," you may be thinking. Well, it’s our web site and we’ll post about punk if we want to. Seriously, though, they do have a slight metal edge to some of their songs and I’m a fan of quite a few punk bands, so we figured "what the hell" and decided to review their full-length album entitled Fear, Lies & Propaganda.

Fear, Lies & Propaganda has a very modern punk sound. Now I don’t mean modern as in "they sound like Green Day." I mean modern punk in that it actually makes me think more of the 1990s and 2000s then the 1970s. You have basic American punk such as "I Refuse" and "Who Would Jesus Destroy", a mellow tune or two ("Bound to Crash"), and even a little bit of hardcore ("Shut Up, Get Dead"). Most of the stuff is definitely mosh-worthy. However, my favorite track, "The World Loves a Tragedy", actually reminds me a lot of The Offspring. It definitely has that whole brain worm thing where you can’t get it out of your head, but at the same time you don’t really want to.

The vocals are actually better then a lot of punk bands in that they don’t sound whiney. You’ll have no trouble understanding what the vocalist is saying. However, the vocals being the way they are can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what kind of punk you like. I think they’re good for the style of punk but definitely wouldn’t fit into 1970s/1980s punk, which in my opinion is when that style of music was at its best.

The sound is very clean compared to most punk bands, which again is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your taste. I wish the sound was a bit muddier, like Iron Maiden’s Paul Di'Anno-era stuff or the Sex Pistols. Punk should sound raw! Still, it works for them and since they actually sound good it’s something that’s not super important.

Overall I would say that it is a good album to break out every once in a while. It’s got some good hooks and songs like "Bound to Crash", "I Refuse", and "The World Loves a Tragedy" should definitely get put on your iPod whether you’re a fan of punk or not, although the lack of a raw, muddy sound is disappointing. However, if you prefer your punk to have a cleaner sound, then by all means you should pick this up.

Review written by: Keith H.        
Date: May 30, 2008             
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5