Let us consider the Fartz. The title What's in a Name...? is a meta-conception of itself. It also alludes to the name of the band, a whimsical play on flatulence that suggests the guys are just a bunch of scatological clowns. Are they? If so, drawing attention to their bandname violates the comedic deadpan required for such silliness. It's far more likely, of course, that they're saying, "Hey, we may be called the Fartz, but there's more to us than just anus jokes." And as any poo connoisseur can attest, scat-clowns are always preferable to "artists" attempting to transcend the word "fart."

Indeed, the Fartz are a pompous hardcore band, full of important messages for the youth of today. They stress opposition to conformity, as well as to the fascist "system," racism, war, and religious brainwashing. The messages are delivered unintelligibly at a fast and furious speed. Personally, I have no need for simpletons preaching in a rote attempt at the punk form, if only because it atrophied 20 years ago.

Almost all of the songs on What's in a Name originally appeared on a compilation titled Because This Fuckin' World Still Stinks (take it as a warning). The songs were then re-recorded and produced by Jack Endino (famous for his work with Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Zen Guerrilla, among others) with a nice, raw separation of sound. The sound is old, the songs are old, but in the band's defense, they hit their rigs like believers.

Alex plays the "666 String" fast and hard, delivering thrashy, descending guitar lines that sound like dropping bombs. Occasionally, his guitar captures the effect of a steel-clawed cat being scraped across an electric chalkboard. One gets the reassuring feeling that the drummer "Karl," if somehow convinced to play one of Chopin's Nocturnes, would kick in with the hyper-suped-up two-step that lies at the heart of hardcore.

Sometime Accused and current Fartz frontman "Blaine" (all members are single name entities-- what's in a name?), sounds like a cross between Lemmy of Motörhead (whose "Iron Fist" is covered here by the Fartz), AC/DC's Brian Johnson, Johnny Rotten, and Davros, the evil creator of the Daleks from television's "Doctor Who." It's a cartoon of a voice, all snotty sneering and guttural play-menace. In fact, it's exactly the kind of voice that's perfectly suited for the idiocy of the Fartz. Blaine wraps his punk travesty around words such as, "While we fight among ourselves, the system is free to rule/ They'll [sic] always be this mental block called indiviguality [sic]." That's how they printed it on the lyric sheet, anyway.

What's in a Name is laid out almost conceptually. "Is This the Way (It's Gonna Be)?," my "favorite" track, and "Take a Stand (Against the Klan)" address the wrongness of bigotry. "Hero's (Come Home in Boxes)," "Death Merchants," and "Viet-Vet" take on the war machine and the folly of Vietnam, evidently leaving the problems of the now-eternal Iraqi standoff, the Serbian conflict, and the Rwandan genocide for their next album. The emptiness of religion comes next, in "God Fearing Christians" and "Judgement Day." And then it's back to war with "Resistance (War is Hell)!!!"

Eventually, after covering Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave," the Fartz wrap things up with an important message: "You've Got a Brain (So Use It)." Remember, kids: "When you've lost complete control, your [sic] gonna' wish you used your brain/ Now they've made you a vegtable [sic] and will use you for their gains." So watch out! But... is that really the end? Only kind of! Just in case you didn't follow their 30-minute, 15-track credo, the Fartz are kind enough to include the entire album again as hidden bonus tracks. Necessary!

On the cover of this record (what's in a cover?), the Fartz deface a color copy of the Clintons and the Gores. President Clinton has a swastika on his head, and, perhaps anticipating some follow-up to the beard, Al Gore has a mohawk. "Fartz kick ass," they say. "Go wild!" This political satire shows the band's refusal to let past issues and administrations go unsavaged. Just to stay current, they also depict George W. ordering a mohawked Robert Deniro to "take me to Monica Lewinski's place." Would that they could have applied this social wit to their music.

-Dan Kilian