This is the sound of seven New Yorkers still trying to make sense of the 9/11 tragedy, and The Slackers wear their hearts on their sleeves-or more appropriately, the record's sleeve, which features the ominous images of a mushroom cloud and a newspaper depicting flames engulfing the World Trade Center. The group lurches into the realm of political aggrandizement on the Jamaican dub-influenced "Real War," but makes amends with the more understated bookends "Don't Wanna Go" and "Close My Eyes." Keyboardist Vic Ruggiero, who added some pretty cool atmospherics on Rancid's Indestructible, continues to impress as a songwriter and vocalist-the plaintive "I'll Stay Away" serves both as a cautionary tale of relationships gone sour and as a spot on snapshot of the fight-or-flight fervor that swept Manhattan two years ago.