There’s something jarring when you first listen to Lost Tribe, it could be the flanged out guitar or the buried organ thumping through out their songs. Though, as you dig deeper you realize that these dark pop songs are sprinkled with everything from Crust to Oi Punk and everything in between. After this realization it’s hard not to get sucked in to their brand of Phaidia meets The Warriors meets Dirt.

Although it might be easy to peg them as “Crust Goth”, there’s a lot more going on here than meets a some stupid Last.FM tag. Songs like “Gunk” and “The Laughter” have the aggressiveness of any great Discharge song but are spun in a completely different direction due to Davey’s vocals being extremely high in the mix. Despite the fact it’s no secret that all of the members of this Richmond, Virginia band have and are also in more pure Crust punk bands, it seems that Lost Tribe in a sense, is a combination of what everything these guys have done before.

Whereas Iceage has been all the rage the past few months with their combination of Warsaw songs played by The Oppressed, there is something I find a bit more interesting with what Lost Tribe is doing. The vibe you get when playing their demo or full length LP (out now via Blind Prophet Records) isn’t that of youth, it’s something way darker and much more cynical. Instead of songs being pure three minute blasts one after another, they pay off is the depth within these songs.

I have yet to see Lost Tribe live, but from the videos I’ve seen it’s not only more aggressive, but also a  sense or urgency I haven’t seen in a punk band in a very long time.  It’s almost as if each song is their last and this is the finish line for them. While they certainly aren’t trying to pull the “Mysterious Guy/Messageboard Hardcore” card, it still is hard to come by a lot of information from them. Honestly, that’s kind of refreshing, not because it’s mysterious, but because they let the music do the talking for them.

- Sean Gray