Punk Planet #73 - May/June 2006

STNNNG - Dignified Sissy, CD

The aptly named frontman Chris Besinger unfurls the DC punk narrative bark that serves as the backbone of Dignified Sissy, but each member of the tightly wound Twin Cities quintet seems more than willing to contribute to their debut full-length's venomous bite. Over the course of 14 too-short songs, the group doesn't perform a two-guitar, 100-proof brand of angular punk as much as it unleashes it. Distorted, but carefully mapped, guitar lines slash and stab at listeners' ears, weaving around each other before they crash into a pummeling wall of percussion or Besinger roars into the spotlight. "How to Avoid an Assassination" may prove these guys own well-worn copies of In on the Kill Taker while standout tracks like "My Golden Oldie," which begins and ends with the same rusted-razor-on-chalkboard guitar squalor, feel downright violent. And, in one of the group's more pointed and political moments, who's not going to scream along when Besinger greets a mounting crescendo by screaming, "We've got a new national anthem / Aren't you glad to be in America? / We're all fucking crazy!"
(JV)
Modern Radio Record Label, PO Box 8886, Minneapolis, MN 55408, www.modern-radio.com