A precocious and thoroughly believable ode to rock 'n' roll, It's Really Quite Manic by Vancouver BC's The Status hits a lot musical gaps left stripped and covered with Bubble Yum over recent years. While they have a lot of room to grow in their songwriting — mainly in the redundancy department — this band recaptures elements of raw punk, pure rock, and not-so-innocent roll in a manner not as sentimental as it is indignant. Sonically the comparisons are easy: Murder City Devils, The Explosion, Sex Pistols, Misfits, Deadlines, etc, but the quantification is a little harder to reach. It's not that anything has been reinvented here, it's just that the demeanor is so fresh, so realistic, that The Status actually seem like something new, or at least something forgotten by their contemporaries.

Standout songs like the title track and "This is an Emergency," "A Rock & Roll Night," and "I Like the Way You Look Tonight" feature hooky, raspy choruses and treats like hand clapping bridges that don't seem cheezy, perfectly timed tempo stops filled by Jordan's tortured and essential vocal imperatives, and verse progressions that climb and scrape the spine. And bottom line, The Status suspend my disbelief, and make me forget that punk is dead for twenty-nine minutes and fifty seconds. Quite an accomplishment if you ask me.

If these guys stay together and work hard for another year they will be well groomed for taking over the Pacific underground; a feat they are already knee-deep in realizing with support from bands like the Black Halos and an underrated Vancouver scene. As it stands now, It's Really Quite Manic is definitely worth checking out if your aim is to be rocked raw and proper, and the band's charismatic, raucous live performances should not be snubbed. Welcome back whatever it is that The Status are reviving.

© 2006 Bandoppler Radio