This is a review of "The Man With Four Tears" recorded by New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack. The review was written by James Burkitt in 2008.

It would be easy to pigeonhole the New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack as angsty post hardcore. I'm sure the word "post" has probably been overused; unfortunately I felt this is the only way to describe most of their CD.

It's brilliant to hear what are obviously talented musicians playing together tightly, something which is hard to find. Each instrument has its moment, with double bass pedalling and the odd baffling guitar line. There are moments when it sounds like the whole thing is going to fall apart with the amount of energy thrown in.

But sometimes it's just too much of the same thing. Though the contrast brought about by the riff in "All we have is our faith" or the way "Fathers eyes" smashes beautifully into a drink fuelled hardcore jig kept my interest ticking, most of the songs just didn't stick.

Often the vocals are a bit vague and talk about "death" or "angels" and they also sound a bit weak compared to the poise of the backing band.

"We are the chosen" is by far the best song. It reminded me of a chilled Fugazi with a dose of At The Drive In thrown in for good measure.

One thing is sure New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack don't just play for the sake of it, they play with a lot of anxiety.