By the time of 1988's
Four of a Kind, all evidence of
D.R.I.'s early
hardcore punk roots was erased, except for the quartet's fondness for thrashing tempos. While they didn't go into the limp
hair metal direction of contemporaries like
T.S.O.L. (whose later albums would be laughable if they weren't so sad), instead favoring a somewhat tougher
speed metal streak best shown on the neck-snapping
"Slumlord" -- which also shows a rather surprising social commentary bent --
Four of a Kind is a perfect example of why it was a bad idea for
hardcore punk bands to go
metal. They simply couldn't do
metal, which at its best has deep reserves of misanthropic anger, as well as the more tortured likes of
Metallica or
Megadeth. A
hardcore band's anger is of the more cartoonish, juvenile wiseass variety, much more
Ramones than
Black Sabbath, and so the songs on
Four of a Kind simply sound kind of weak and petulant. Later CD pressings include an absolutely pointless, grating bonus track,
"S.O.F.C.," that consists of little more than a malfunctioning tape machine. ~ Stewart Mason
