Scream Real Loud

AMG Review of Scream Real Loud

Stewart Mason
All Music Guide

Although it has occasionally dropped out of sight for a time, 7 Seconds is arguably the longest-lived band in hardcore history, and the 2000 live album Scream Real Loud is testament to why the group has survived. Singer/songwriter/sole permanent member Kevin Seconds manages to mix righteous indignation ("Regress, No Way," "Here's Your Warning"), standing-tall anthems ("Young Til I Die," the "Touch of Grey" of the skatepunk set), political gestures (the admirably pro-female "Not Just Boy's Fun," a denunciation of the idea of hardcore life as a boys-only club), nods to the old school (a swell cover of Sham 69's "If the Kids Are United"), and good goofy fun (an amusing deconstruction of the fluffy /p>

ew wave nugget "99 Red Balloons"), while maintaining a head of good old three-chord hardcore steam. As powerful as a live album from bands with one-tenth the history of 7 Seconds, Scream Real Loud is as good as '80s-style California hardcore gets in the new millennium.