Humble Gods
"No Heroes" CD (Hollywood Records)
Humble Gods are the L.A. punk equivalent of North Mission Beach tough guys. They have cool facial hair and tattoos, wear wife-beater T-shirts and probably sit on the boardwalk drinking 40 ouncers in paper bags. The music is as macho and misogynistic as any SDSU frat boy turned beach denizen. Like Black Flag and Battalion Of Saints, they scream their frustrations in an aggressive, nihilistic rage. Unlike Flag and B.O.S., Humble Gods don't have all that much to say and their angry (semi-) political rantings come out sounding vague and full of clichés. When lead screamer Brad X yells, "Dividing lines, USA! We're heading for the race war, USA!" you begin to wonder if he even knows what the hell he's saying, not that it makes a whole lot of sense to begin with. It's when he screams, "Push you off the plank, feed you to the sharks / Bathe you in gasoline with lots of sparks / Nothing's new, you're still spreading your legs all over town" that you know he feels what he's singing. Give Humble Gods a few points for some driving rhythms and a pretty cool cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl." The rest is macho, jerk-off, male posturing to the fullest extent. (TOM)