Useless ID

I first discovered Useless ID about 10 years ago, when I still used to listen to the Ataris and the Kung Fu Records bands. These four guys from Israel did a split with Kris Roe's band on that label called Let It Burn, and I remember they had the best song on that split album.

I quit listening to them after that, and I just heard some random songs on their next few albums -- No Vacation from the World and Redemption ("State of Fear" is just simply an amazing song). I liked them, but I never got into them too much.

Now, after leaving Kung Fu, the guys from Haifa are releasing their brand new album on some different record labels (depening on where you live in the world -- the USA, Japan or Europe) but the music's the same: 12 tracks of melodic punk rock that still means something to the hardcore fans of the genre.

Produced by Bill Stevenson at the Blasting Room in Colorado, the record is a serious display of how NOFX influenced bands all over the world. "Isolate Me" is a perfect opener, with catchy choruses and fast guitar riffs in true Useless ID fashion, as well as the others -- "Killing a Ghost" and "Blood Pressure." The production is stellar and listening to the songs I had the feeling that without Stevenson's touch, this record would not be the same. Musically, the fast and energetic punk rock sound reminds me of late `90s melodic punk bands, while vocally, lead singer Yotam Ben-Horin sound like a cross between Josh Kemble of Dogwood and No Use for a Name's Tony Sly.

If you like the Fat Wreck `90s sound but miss those bands (especially More Betterness by No Use for a Name), I think you can put your cash on this record without being disappointed. If you moved on, or back, this record will be a nice listen on a sunny winter day.