Dirty South Revolutionaries, Queen City Underground

When you see a band calling themselves “Dirty South Revolutionaries,” a certain identity will come to mind. Most people will think of a rap act with a heavy political/sociological lyrical slant. The group that appears on Queen City Underground, however, is a quartet of North Carolina white guys playing metal-tinged hardcore punk that mostly sing about drugs, fighting, and trailer parks.

Now, that is a revolution that most people would join.

The DSR, as all of their fellow Charlettonians refer to them, employ a nice hybrid of the metal/punk genres that draws from different aspects but stands out from their contemporaries. What is there is a frantic three-chords-at-any-speed-of-punk mixed in with some subtle touches of death and thrash. The singer — who is only referred to as Pete, no last name, just like Madonna and Cher — goes from growling to shouting and at times employs a high-pitched shriek that made me check to make sure that the band did not have a female singer, to great effect.

With all but one of 17 songs staying well under the 2:30 mark, the franticness and audio tornado effect that is the band’s sound works well. Admittedly, songs about doing blow (“White Powder”) and a war on poseurs (“Suck My Dick”) seem at odds with the prototypical ditties about how society sucks (“Bullet With You Name on It”) and the mandatory song of unity (“The Time Is Now”), but they all seem to fit together. Especially since the singularly-named Pete’s vocals make the lyrics just understandable enough to decipher. The old saying is don’t judge a book by its cover — well, don’t judge a band by its name, or you may miss out.