The Lawrence Arms - Apathy and Exhaustion

Label: Fat Wreck Chords
Year: 2002
Genre: Punk Rock
Recommending Person: Abe Martinez

Lawrence Arms is the epitome of the Chicago punk movement. They were before the full emo trip that Alkaline Trio put on track that took over my entire high school career. 

This individual album is pretty fun and not as heavy as I was originally expecting coming in. The use of Pat Hughes in the intro track, "Porno and Snuff Films", is a big plus for me. The singing in this band is much better than the others in the Chicago scene, minus The Smoking Popes. It reminds me of a punk version of Blink 182. They still have the melodic rhythm guitar leading the song with the drums turned up and sped up.  However, they do not have the repetitive catchy hooks. The chorus is a bit more convoluted and important, just lacking the harmonies that Blink captured. It's better this way.