If you're a Long Island brat like me, you might remember NECK, a fairly underrated monstrosity of a band who released two full-lengths: a self-titled and "Should My Fist Eye". NECK played a frighteningly evocative blend of Metal, Hardcore, and Shoegazer music. NECK has long since disbanded, a fairly common practice when it comes to any bands of note in the LI Scene, whose populous of vacuous Nancy boys and phony-tough mongoloids leaves much to be desired for those with more genuine extreme tastes.

Enter CAR BOMB. CAR BOMB is made up of ex-members of NECK, and like that outfit, they have a penchant for violent-hybrids of Metal and Hardcore that are as explosive and capable of causing widespread damage as their namesake implies. On their Relapse Records debut "Centralia", CAR BOMB goes off in a big way, spraying flaming debris everywhere.

"Pieces of You" and "Gum Under The Table" play like NECK on fast forward; heavier, meaner, and making up for lost time. Not merely content with empty technique, CAR BOMB pepper their spider-technic riffs with big lumbering breakdowns that are too damn intimidating to bring the mosh. "His Eyes" also sounds like an amped-up NECK composition, but rest assured that CAR BOMB is not merely a rip-off of the members' previous outfit. CAR BOMB is indeed a nastier, faster, screamier breed of 'core than NECK.

"Cellophane Stiletto" is perhaps the best example of what CAR BOMB are all about, taking things that don't fit and somehow making them work. The middle of the track contains an interlude that sounds like FANTOMAS at their quietest (and creepiest) before bringing it back to the 90's Hardcore lurch; a definite stand out. "Best Intentions" also has a weird break in the middle, with jazz-drumming over a European Horror Movie Rhythm, before completely coming apart in a tornado of electronics and strings.

Few debuting bands make this impressive of a mark on their first "major" release. CAR BOMB's "Centralia" may be the best debut release Relapse puts out this year (save perhaps for ANTIGAMA's upcoming debut). "Centralia" is the album THE END wishes they could make; "Centralia" is the album DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN should've made after "Calculating Infinity". One wonders how CAR BOMB will follow up "Centralia". I don't know...but I can't wait to hear.