CD: American Shutdown Artist: UnitF Label: Long Live Crime Records Rating: 4.5/5 Best Song: Haunted Kitty Reviewer: Cole Faulkner

California's Unit F blend Pennywise and Bad Religion's melodic structure with a vocal style that alternates between rough yelling, and pseudo-talking.  While the initial comparisons caught my attention, the raw vocals initially made me approach Unit F's latest album, American Shutdown, with more caution than enthusiasm.  But after a few tracks I would soon see that Unit F balance their disjointed nature with melody quite admirably.  However, upon gaving the album's instrumentation the benefit of the doubt, I also soon discovered that Unit F's lyrics take centre stage.

Like the group's previously mentioned influences, Unit F finds inspiration in preaching social change and awareness.  Each song details some sort of government oppression either through explicit references or hypothetical situations.  They approach this mission with dark, doomsday-esque overtones.  But stand alone doom and gloom hypotheses can get depressing, so thankfully the band has a dark humour about them.  For example, the opening track, "American Shutdown," predicts the implosion of America due to "national pride," as citizens plaster their luxury cars with bumper stickers without ever really thinking about what they support.  In one of many moments of dark humour the band equates blindly following the status quo with eating fast food: "so you eat the party line like another quarter pounder/never questioning or giving any thought."  Unit F's humour doesn't undermine political issues.  Quite the opposite - it actually helps deeper articulate their agenda.

Like their influences, the band demonstrates a smart use of satire.  "Just Say Yes" proclaims that citizens should "just say yes to war, and say yes to poor, just say yes to government and say yes to public scorn, just say yes to politics and say yes to gun," during each verse.  The chorus that follows serves as a mini commentary, succinctly pleading that citizens research "the reason why" they should support any cause or government request, and that "if we let them tell us what to think, they'll finally control our minds."  "I Am the DA" satirically details the power held by a district attorney, with the DA saying "I am the DA, I want it my way," and how the pressure to convict can find political agendas overshadowing true justice.  My personal favourite, "Haunted Kitty," describes a hypothetical case of pandemic scale bioterrorism, and a panicked government containment scheme involving disguised "vaccination" centers where the only cure is a bloody execution.  Unit F's lyrical strength comes from their tendency to describe representative scenarios rather than simply preaching an explicit point of view.  They assume that their audience has a brain, and that they are willing to use it to form their own opinion.

As far as political punk bands go, I'd be hard pressed to find another band that can articulate politics and social issues with as much conviction and lyrical precision as Unit F.  By balancing grim themes with dark humour, the band shows a level of social awareness that extends beyond surface value.  Needless to say, anyone who loves music that challenges them to think for themselves should pick up American Shutdown without even firing a neuron.  And yes, I recognize the hypocrisy in that statement.  Let's hope the band doesn't read this review.