PROBLEMS – Make it Through the Night

© 2012 P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.

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Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Life is shitty. We all have problems. Life would be less shitty if we all had the new CD by Portland punk rock and rollers, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. ! (well, I suspect life would be piled with cash for the band if everyone in the world bought a copy of this, but I digress) Out in time for the summer west coast tour and the up and coming European tour, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S has a shiny new compact disc available for your listening pleasure. (as a side note, I have no idea if P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. stands for anything or if they fellas are just totally down with the full stop.)

Make it Through the Night is the latest release from P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. The disc kicks down 18 tracks of sonic bombast that reminds me a combination of Zeke and Nerve Agents. For those of you that know (and enjoy) those other bands, I suspect that this is right up your alley. Technically, Make It Through The Night is 9 official tracks and 9 “Bonus” tracks of previously released material. Technically you could put it in a box and call it box set, so you do what you want with that information.

The important thing is that P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. is badass and they have a pedigree to back that shit up. Some might dare to say they are a bit of a “Super Group”. Featuring former members of bands such as: Resist, Poison Idea, Detestation, The Weaklings, Masskontrol and Defiance might bring a certain amount of credibility to the aforementioned, but unlike other “Super Groups”, like the Damn Yankees, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. is not all about the douchebaggery. (as far as I can tell). There is another band I know of that has members of some of these same bands. Oh sure, they’re good, but not nearly as cool.

Some of the stand out tracks include the opener, “D.U.M.B” and track 6, Bad News. For the cover fans among you, there is also a great cover of The Cortinas “Fascist Dictator”.

The bottom line is that Portland, OR is still kicking out some hard rocking tunes and P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S is right there at its gritty rain-soaked core.

If you’re interested in picking up a copy of this disc, I suppose you could contact the band here: http://problemspdx.com/contact of course there is a link to their MySpace page, so I wouldn’t blame you if you thought they broke up half a decade ago.

–Jerry Actually

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