AMG Review of Cruel and Unusual

Greg Prato
All Music Guide

By the early 21st century, G.B.H. had been thrashing away for two decades. And as evidenced by a pair of EPs issued around this time, 1998's Punk as Fuck! and 2001's Punk Rock Ambulance, the group hadn't lost any of their youthful fury. With both releases out of print (which were each split releases with Billyclub), the Idol label combined all the G.B.H. tracks from each release, and reissued them as Cruel and Unusual in 2004. Half studio tracks and half live tracks (recorded in Leeds, England during 2002), standouts include the Rancid-esque "No," the murky "Last of the Teenage Idols," as well as a blitzkrieg reading of the early G.B.H. classic "Time Bomb." G.B.H. continue to stick to their guns (and original musical path) on Cruel and Unusual.