New Bomb Turks

In a genre that hardly encourages longevity, Columbus's punkmeisters the New Bomb Turks have churned out high-energy Midwest thrash for a solid decade since forming as students at Ohio State University in 1990. In that time, the Turks have amassed a devoted following and an impressive body of recorded work, from their early 7-inch raw nerve blasts on Datapanik to their full-throttle albums for Crypt and ultimately Epitaph Records. Many longtime fans who worried that the Turks' signing with Epitaph, Brett Gurewitz's high-profile punk indie, would alter their sonic presentation were fretting for nothing. Although Scared Straight, the Turks' second album for Epitaph, offered more sophisticated production, their latest, Nightmare Scenario, shows the band returning to a more visceral rock/punk sound. With nods to the Dead Boys, the Stooges, Generation X, and early Replacements, the Turks storm through a solid set of blistering punk anthems reminiscent of their earliest work. Recorded by Jim Diamond at Detroit's Ghetto Recorders studios, Nightmare Scenario betrays the band's Motor City influences by showing the Turks in full Iggy mode on "Killer's Kiss," "Automatic Teller," and "Wine & Depression," an homage to Raw Power-era Stooges. After 10 years and very few detours along the way, the New Bomb Turks have accomplished a punk rarity by sustaining a consistent and powerful sonic edge, and by revisiting those thrilling days of yesteryear without getting trapped in their own scrapbook.