Pop album review: The Bronx returns to its original sound in 'IV'

As its title implies, "IV" is the fourth studio album from this long-running Los Angeles punk band. But that total comes with an asterisk: Following "III" in 2008, the Bronx effected an unlikely transition and released two records — both excellent — as Mariachi El Bronx, an honest-to-Dios mariachi outfit complete with brass and guitarrón. Now the group has shed the charro suits and returned to its original sound with 12 serrated hard-core jams about wasted youth and suicide. "We're not here to entertain you," singer Matt Caughthran snarls in "Ribcage," "We don't care about your rights."

By Mikael Wood

February 5, 2013