By Brian Tucker

The self-titled release from Skullbuckle could be misguidedly dismissed as a throwback to old rock music. Doing so would be missing the point of its fun aggression and hearty familiarity. Seventeen tracks on a single album is sometimes a sign of throwaway material and bloat but Skullbuckle goes by fast and efficiently, filled with skater rock and reckless punk sludge. It’s a fantastic blender-mix of styles that recalls nineties-era bands like Urge Overkill, Superchunk, Mudhoney and Bare, Jr.

The album’s brashness comes not just from growling and groove-heavy guitar work (sludge, slide, or otherwise) and a snappy rhythm section but a snarling carefree lead singer in Malcolm David Hathaway whose sounds like the metallic delivery of Fu Manchu’s Scott Hill. The band doesn’t carve out new territory so much here as it digs deep in the photo albums of sounds gone by.

“Girl in a Truck” is stoner rock. “Underwear” sounds like a Kiss song left off Detroit Rock City. “Precious Corners” is Urge Overkill with slide guitar and faint singing. “At Sea” is an aggressive, splayed guitar Nirvana-esque track. “Intermission” is pure bar-band gruff. These band namedrops aren’t to belittle Skullbuckle, but a means to show where their music tastes wander, and these are great flavors to digest through the band’s own filter. Nothing could better represent the bipolar fun of the album than “Hawk Attack/She Said” that precedes the fantastic free-for-all of “Buttercup.”

Skullbuckle reminds me of last year’s album by Sweet Apple formed by J. Mascis, a collection of hard charging rock tunes by a group of dudes who’ve played in and out of bands for years. Skullbuckle moves fast and then faster, especially on the playful “Way Back When” that takes country spirit and turns it into a crackling rock song. It shows the band’s many sides.

And why not, given the band member’s ties to so much N.C. music history. Drummer Jay Thigpen was in Antiseen. Bassist Jim Phillips was in Rural Swine and Mullet Revolta. Skullbuckle, simply put, rocks, rolls, grooves, and plays it loose, loud and fun throughout. The album is down and dirty with a chipped tooth, red-eyed from lack of sleep, and a happily unemployed piece of pure rock abandon that’s fine party music to be played loud and capable of bothering neighbors you want gone in the first place.