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spotlight! Coup de Brats: sedition, scars and a slight psychosis
By Megan Carneal
mcarneal@mscd.edu

Lower Class Brats The New Seditionaries (TKO Records, 2006)

A seditionary is a person guilty of inciting a written or spoken rebellion against their government. The Lower Class Brats may be guilty of sedition, but the true crime on their latest release, The New Seditionaries, is having a five-syllable word in the title of a punk album.

Getting past the album title may take a minute and a dictionary, but once Webster’s has been consulted it becomes apparent the Brats have polished more than just their vocabulary. Seditionaries marks their first release on their new label TKO Records after switching from Punkcore Records.

Betrayal is a significant theme on Seditionaries, and the paramount example of this is “Beware.” While the track still uses the Brats’ familiar eardrum-scarring riffs and palpable rage, it treads new territory by incorporating experimental effects and darker, slightly psychotic lyrics. With a snarling upper lip, singer Bones Delarge confesses his selfish obsessions and deteriorating state of mind as he stalks the one responsible for his heartache. Menacing backup vocals and a disconcerting organ during the bridge add to the track’s incredible creepiness.

Following the romantically betrayed theme of “Beware” is “Two in the Heart.” While this track’s tempo is more upbeat than “Beware,” its lyrics illustrate Delarge’s anger and hurt.

At first listen the album is flawless. Every track is a hard-hitting, scream-along anthem. However, something subtle is missing from Seditionaries. The Brats have built a career and a strong following out of their take on clockwork punk, a subgenre influenced by the novel and film A Clockwork Orange. But throughout the album, there is no trace of Nadsat slang or any throwbacks to ultraviolence. It seems the Brats have abandoned their shtick. Though the familiar theme is gone, Seditionaries is still an album worthy of its pretentious title.