Metal Underground.com

The Eruptors' debut album is called "Bad Time To Be Having A Good Time," but at 21 minutes long, with less than half of that worth listening to, there isn't much of a good time to be had here.

The album's opener, "Dawn Of The Earth," shows exactly what is both right and wrong with this punk rock record. There's a catchy chorus and a reasonably interesting guitar part, but they're almost entirely covered up by drummer Flamin' Gary De Niro's hammering snare and crashing cymbals. Also, bassist/singer Jeff Pepsii's vocals, delivered through a megaphone effect, are muddy.

De Niro's snare kicks off "Theme from the Eruptors," followed by a deliciously loopy surf guitar-ish solo from Lightning Alex Lee Hooker III. It's a minute-plus that made me start to think things were looking up. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

The next song, "Gravelrash," is incredibly fast in parts, with the bad production turning it into sludge. A good bluesy segment near the end isn't enough to save it.

The album's absolute high point comes with "One Minute Decision," which has Pepsii's best vocals, and a great chorus. The production is still muddy, but the drums are turned down enough that you can hear everything else.

Unfortunately, most of what follows isn't worth hearing, with the possible exception of "Skate Fast! Die Hard!" which features a good drum solo.

The lowest point of the album comes with the silly "Battlestar Eruptica," which further muddies up the sound by adding in police sirens and the photon torpedo sound effect from "Star Trek."

There's apparently some notion of this being a concept album about a garage band "war of the worlds," but "Battlestar Eruptica" and "Dawn Of The Earth" are the only songs that really seem to actually be about that. Then again, it's nearly always impossible to actually hear the lyrics, so I may be mistaken.

A bad time for most, "Bad Time To Be Having A Good Time" will be a good time only for the most dedicated punk rock fans.