Jay Navarro is better known as the singer of The Suicide Machines. While that band has reunited and done occasional shows, Navarro has picked up by starting two other bands, the more poppy Break Anchor and the diehard hardcore punch of Hellmouth. On their third album and first in seven years, the band has really given other punkers a run for their money.

The opening wallop of the first two tracks, “Welcome To The Undertow” and “Fighting Off The Wolves,” are more than enough to whet the appetite of even the most diehard punk fan. The latter track is a mere 28 seconds and it’s actually become one of my favorite songs of the year thus far.

“Dead In The Dirt” just might be the best song Jay Navarro has ever done, period! It has great musicianship, great vocals, and a fantastic take-no-prisoners attitude that just ranks it so much higher than most punk rock out today.

There are some lesser songs here, like “Filthy Seed” and “Blood Fire,” but they help the overall atmosphere of the disc and ultimately serve as a great jumping off point for other tracks.

“Fecal Parasite” and “Coliseum Oblivio” are two other great tracks that should help to elevate Hellmouth to a top-tier position in punk rock. They’re songs of devastating heaviness with vocals loud enough to make your quaint Christian ears bleed.

The vocals on “Grey Turns Black” are just phenomenal and help to show how this record is just another in a long line of examples of why Navarro is such a great punk vocalist and one of the most underrated of the era. From the very beginning, this is a take-no-prisoners, no bullshit kind of record. If that’s something you can’t take, then maybe you should go listen to more All Time Low or Motionless In White ‘cause this clearly ain’t for you!

Rating: B+

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