New York’s Blanks 77 don’t change much. The band still traffics in basic, primal 1976 punk jacked up with 1983 N.Y.H.C. (New York hardcore), complete with snarly, barely comprehensible Darby Crash-like vocals and Sham 69 singalongs such as “We Are the Punks.” One new wrinkle, however, is the choice of producer Daniel Rey, who thickens their sound considerably, making the guitars, bass, and drums positively roar like a cross between his two most famous clients, the ’80s Ramones and ’90s Misfits. Songs such as “Times Up” (not the old Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch song) and “Forgotten Son” are the kind of really tight, slam-bang medium-thrash the band merely hinted at previously. – Jack Rabid
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