This is not music for kids. It's certainly not played by kids. All Souls kicks off with manic riffage and a blistering pace, and then it mashes the pedal. This quartet of west-coast survivors seems to have decided that the world needs another kicky punk-edged rock band after all.

All Souls Songs for the End of the World (self-released)

They're right, of course. There will always be a need to provide a vein of adrenaline for the blood and sonic tonic for the inner ear. This second album is more of the same, though to my ear it's a bit more aggressive and coherent all at once.

Fans of the 90s Touch and Go scene (or Totimoshi, which provided half of the members for this band) will probably smile along contentedly. And have the urge to run through a wall or two. All Souls does downshift the tempo from time to time, but it never dials back the pressure. There is a weight here.

Is the world ending? I'll leave that to the philosophers. All Souls certainly has a soundtrack for these times, one that also serves as a call to action. No one who hears this album can sit idly. Albums like this are just one reason rock will never die. There's still so much to discover.

Jon Worley