This is a review of "The Upper Crust" recorded by AB Negative. The review was written by Simon Glacken in 2004.

With the likes of Dumb 41 and Blink 18Poo cluttering the air waves with their supposed comical take on punk rock, I was initially worried about listening to a CD by a punk band who had previously released an EP titled "Moshy Peas."

Thankfully "The Upper Crust" is a musical dictionary of the various types of punk that are available to the people of the world. "Is this What You Wanted" brings back memories of Green Days' first album "1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours" way before they began making punk operas. While the song is still generic 3 chord rock it equals anything that was churned out by the Ramones.

"Suffocating" ,"I Got it Bad" and "Reprisal" sees the band turn towards a more darker grunge style. With lead singer Darren Gray sounding like he was once in Silverchair. These songs have chunky riffs instead of power chords which thankfully steer the band away from the dangers of being classed as a pop-punk band.

"Abandoned" ends the EP as it began, with fast paced catchy hooks which are more Pennywise than Green Day. Either way "The Upper Crust" shows us that there is still life in punk yet.

There were also no jokes about pies on the CD either. Praise the Lord!