At first I thought the Altarboys were some sorta Portland (left coast versh) supergroup, because all their names sound famous - Jack Bastard, Lisa Furr, Big Rod Johnson, etc. But upon further inspection, naw, they’re just a bunch of angry, tattooed punks with local band pedigrees that read like a drive-in movie marathon: Dagger Debs, Dirty Harriet, Hellbent for Hell, Lady Speed. But on the strength of GHV2, I’d say superdom is not entirely out of their reach. The Altarboys sound is melodic hardcore, somewhere in the same chaotic moshpit as the Misfits and DI, with a welcome dose of greaseball rock n’ roll tossed into the mix. That ain’t rocket science, or even mad science, but it works perfectly here. The Altarboys (and girls - it’s a whole multi-gendered clusterfuck) have an ear for chewy pop hooks, they just bury them deep into granite-hard punk rock flail-a-thons. Songs like “Fucked Up Tonight”, “Worthless”, and the awesomely snotty “Bored” capture numb, dumb post-adolescent rage perfectly, and you just can’t help it, man, you wanna go destroy a 7-11 or something when this one is rolling. The action-rock riffs and occasional 20-second flash metal solos will ensure the Altarboys a space on every punk n’ roll gig that rolls into town, but it sounds like their hearts are really in sweaty, boozy punk rock basements, egging on a teenage hardcore riot. And I am all for that, man.