CRUSTY CLIP OF THE WEEK - BIRTH A.D. 'CAUSE PROBLEMS' LIVE IN AUSTIN

Every single Wednesday without fail, your hosts post a suitably stale video clip that we think needs to be revisited. Click here for more Crusty Clips. Got a clip you think we should post? Send it to crustcake@gmail.com.

by Andrew Wilhelm (Denver)

A friend of mine sometimes says that a band will have "all the right patches in all the right places" to criticize said band playing for style, not substance. Concerning the thrash revival, this sentiment rings true. With the exception of Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust, both jamming before "thrash" became the new old sensation, I get the sense that most of these kids rehashing Exodus riffs are superficially rebelling against kids with emo jeans and eyeliner. Image is important in metal, yes, but if the patches on your jackets are sewn on together better than your songs, that's a tragedy.

Austin's Birth A.D. will have none of that shit. They know thrash wasn't just about spilling High Life all over your vintage Overkill shirt, but using metal riffs and punk velocity to criticize social norms and raise the ire of squares. Song titles like "Bring Back the Draft" and "This Scene Sucks" pretty much speak for themselves, but Birth A.D. have piss and vinegar in their veins, and it shows in their playing. As the band says on its Myspace, "Fuck your party metal, we're here for war!!!"

The clip, filmed at Austin's now-deceased Room 710 in July, is by no means "stale" but Birth A.D. are fucking awesome and deserve more recognition.