Nothing Is Anywhere

Roughly two decades after they were supposed to save New York punk, D Generation have returned to the recording studio and emerged with their fourth studio album, 2016's Nothing Is Anywhere. This set comes 17 years after their previous LP, 1999's Through the Darkness, with a breakup and re-formation in between, and a fair amount has happened with lead singer and principal songwriter Jesse Malin since then. Malin has gone on to a well-respected solo career, where he balances singer/songwriter sensibilities with rock & roll tunes, and while Nothing Is Anywhere is the strongest and most confident set of six-string bashing he's released since heading out on his own, the album sounds more like a Jesse Malin solo effort than D Generation. That isn't a fatal flaw; the bulk of the material reflects the more mature and contemplative themes Malin usually considers these days, along with a heavier dash of Springsteen-ian street-kid storytelling, but despite the less frantic tempos and more nuanced performances, D Generation sound like a band on Nothing Is Anywhere rather than a bunch of guys backing Jesse Malin, and that makes a big difference. When these guys get their dander up on numbers like "Militant" and "Not Goin' Back," they still sound like a gritty and swaggering punk band, but most of the time the tone is more rock, less punk. That said, guitarists Danny Sage and Richard Bacchus kick up a commendable amount of dust, and bassist Howie Pyro and drummer Michael Wildwood give this music a stomp that's hard but lively. If you were hoping that D Generation were going to deliver another punk rock triumph like 1996's No Lunch, Nothing Is Anywhere doesn't hit the target, but if you've been wishing Jesse Malin would make another tough, full-on rock & roll album, this is just what you've been waiting for. ~ Mark Deming