Dragpipe are yet another band hailing from the New Jersey scene and though their bio claims they come in the spirit of such visionaries as the Bad Brains and Jane's Addiction and "respond to the vastly bland trends of today's pop culture", they sound more like a mix of earlier Corrosion Of Conformity and Whitfield Crane era Life Of Agony with a touch of assertive new metal ala the Union Underground. A mix of steamroller like rhythms and vaguely southern rock inspired rock riffing, the band have an almost punky energy in place which ultimately constructs a bridge between a few genres that haven't been traversed much in recent years.

Band frontman Jai Diablo possesses a slightly nasal voice as he barks and howls out his words with varying levels of intensity and emotion. Occasionally rap influenced, such as the verse work on "Carnivals+Festivals", yet mostly modern rock and metal inspired, his rough around the edges performance adds a hostile edge to the music to keep it sneering in the listeners face. The guitar work on the other hand is fairly low key and new metal influenced, slashing out a wealth of watered down detuned riffs and occasionally screeching out some atmospheric feedback or melodic strumming while weighty bass lines bash around in behind. A fast paced drumming performance anchors the low ends assault and introduces its own show of force through a punchy and hard hitting drumming performance that is constantly revving its engine and cycling through the gears.

Agitated and corrosive, Dragpipe's ballsy aggression will likely strike a chord with many as it is in the vein of most metal that is currently popular these days. With songs that are abrasive and biting they manage to belt out their craft with the force and urgency of a head on collision between a semi-truck and a Volvo, in fact it is this constant drive of the bands music that gives them enough power to burst through and make an impression, even if there isn't much in the way of substance present. That said, its still hard not to feel that they are just another run of the mill act as they offer up little in the form of innovation or longevity. The songs are fairly bare bones and raw and are easily forgettable, qualities which are not helped by the group borrowing liberally from others at times, such as the overtly similar verse structures between "Diablo Handshake" and Slipknot's "Wait And Bleed". With such cons in place its hard to see them establishing themselves as a respected name in the metal scene, because though there are a few enjoyable moments contained on this disc, the thing Dragpipe's music seems to do best is drag on.