No Gods, No Managers

Choking Victim: Ezra (vocals, guitar); Shayne (vocals, bass guitar); Skwert (vocals, drums); Stza.
Personnel: Ezra , Stza (vocals, guitar); Skwert (vocals, drums); Shayne (vocals); Tommy Trujillo (flamenco guitar); Popeye (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Choking Victim; Mike Trujillo.
Recording information: Serenity, Alphabet City, New York, NY (03/1998-04/1998); Succulent Sounds, Highland Park, L.A (03/1998-04/1998).
Well, it's about time! After three singles and lord knows how many years of squatting on the East Coast, Choking Victim has finally released an album on Epitaph. Of course, this doesn't mean that they'll be off the streets anytime soon, but at least they'll have that occasional royalty check coming in to pay for their beer money. So with No Gods, No Managers, the artwork is covered with blasphemous symbols that range from upside-down crosses to pentagrams to drawings of the dark lord himself. The addition of many recommendations of smoking crack rock -- whether or not this is serious was never really determined -- makes Choking Victim the antithesis of every ska-punk band out there. So, yeah, not only do these guys preach the anti-sobriety/anti-religious message, but there's also a serious anti-life/anti-nationalistic theme going on with the band. Song's like "Fuck America" and "Suicide (A Better Way)" sort of give that away. Fun, but not for anyone who needs their spirits uplifted. ~ Mike DaRonco