CD Cover

Syracuse punk-rock band Bridge Under Fire doesn’t hold anything back with the album Gluttons Before Grace.

The 11-cut album released this month by L.R.S. Records is an interesting collection of contrasts.

Mark Turley, Jeff Walker, Chris Whitmore and Steve Lowe collaborate for a musical stew that can be rock with a tender sweetness. Guitars ring acoustically. Or they chime electrically. Layers of percussion builds to the right pace and place in tension. It’s rock reminiscent of good work by Bono and the boys in U2 back in the day or Chris Martin and mates in Cold Play.

And then there are the vocals. They’re a scream, emotional and from the gut. Punk some, yes, but also metal in passion and fierceness and growl.

The album starts with an instrumental Prelude and closes with an all-in Epilogue.

In between come cool and crisp stuff like Blacklisted at Hop Sing, hardcore with some surprisingly tender bridges, and Rhythm and Booze with its declaration “sometimes I’m happy just to breathe” and the wonderfully titled and superbly tense No I Don’t Want to Hang Out with You Now Bring Me to Taco Bell and Take Me Home.”