The Reckoning: A Brief Review Of The Debut Album From Foxhall Stacks (Members Of Jawbox, Government Issue, Velocity Girl, Minor Threat)

Foxhall Stacks, the D.C. supergroup featuring Jim Spellman (Velocity Girl, The High-Back Chairs), Bill Barbot (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), Peter Moffett (Government Issue, Wool, Burning Airlines), and the legendary Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Government Issue, Dag Nasty, The Meatmen), are finally ready to offer up their debut full-length release. The album, called The Coming Collapse, drops on Snappy Little Numbers on Friday. And while it's also available via Dischord, for a band with a lot of harDCore bonafides among the four players, the debut is a big-sounding, power-pop record, a fact that might surprise some people.

"The Reckoning" is all crunch, closer in spirit to both Cheap Trick and The Posies (circa 1993) than the kind of punk this city's musicians are usually known for, while "Turntable Exiles", which premiered here not too long ago, is catchy and infectious. The cut is breezy in the right way, and a reminder of the kind of thing bands like The Smithereens and Tommy Keene once routinely pumped out. In that sense, this track and the superb "The Old Me" remind one that this city's legacy was at one time not just hardcore punk, but the kind of power-pop offered up by The Razz, and solo Tommy Keene before the majors came calling.

At their best here, like on "Top of the Pops", the music of Foxhall Stacks sounds a whole lot like the stuff on the perfect first album from Silver Sun, a U.K. outfit unfairly lumped in with bands of the first wave of Britpop despite being a bunch of power-pop revivalists. Similarly, "Law of Averages" and "Worried" temper the volume a tad with a nice lyricism, such that the tunes' melodies linger in the head for as long as the ears ring. As recorded and engineered by Geoff Sanoff, The Coming Collapse is full of numbers with real heft. I mean, it's a loud record, but I think it had to be, you know what I mean? An obvious reference point for lots of what's on The Coming Collapse is what we heard on parts of Don't Tell A Soul, the unfairly slagged loud Replacements album from 1989. However, it should be noted that the guys in Foxhall Stacks might not be as world-weary as Westerberg and his crew.

Foxhall Stacks are bringing back, on the songs I mentioned and the hard rock workout of "Rough Sailors", a distinctly Eighties-indebted form of alternative rock. What's so refreshing about The Coming Collapse is that any one of these four could, by all rights, try to steal the spotlight. But each player here -- Bill Barbot on vocals and guitar, Jim Spellman on guitar and vocals, Peter Moffett on drums and backing vocals, and Brian Baker on bass -- is intent on pleasing a listener and themselves. That sounds easier to do than it probably is, especially in an era when far too many bands are trying an ironic approach to tackle past genre forms, or are simply too clever for their own good. The big, riff-driven rockers on The Coming Collapse are just smart enough to place the music of Foxhall Stacks n the same league as that of All Shook Up-era Cheap Trick, or Too Tough to Die-era Ramones. The Coming Collapse rocks!, and sometimes that's entirely the point.

The Coming Collapse is out on Friday via Snappy Little Numbers. More details via the label's Facebook page. The album can also be ordered via Dischord.

More details on Foxhall Stacks via the band's official Facebook page.

[Photo: Foxhall Stacks, Snappy Little Numbers]